Editing Patriotism (section)

==Philosophical issues==
Patriotism may be strengthened by adherence to a [[State religion|national religion]] (a [[civil religion]] or even a [[theocracy]]). This is the opposite of the [[separation of church and state]] demanded by the Enlightenment thinkers who saw patriotism and faith as similar and opposed forces. [[Michael Billig]] and [[Jean Bethke Elshtain]] both argued that the difference between patriotism and faith is difficult to discern and relies largely on the attitude of the one doing the labeling.<ref>{{cite book|last=Billig|first=Michael|title=Banal Nationalism|title-link=Banal Nationalism|location=London|publisher=Sage Publishers|year=1995|pages=56–58}}</ref>

[[Christopher Heath Wellman]], professor of [[philosophy]] at [[Washington University in St. Louis]], says a popular view of the "patriotist" position is robust obligations to compatriots and only minimal [[good samaritan|samaritan]] responsibilities to foreigners.<ref name="LRRECS">{{Cite book|title=Liberal Rights and Responsibilities: Essays on Citizenship and Sovereignty|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sco4AAAAQBAJ|url-access=limited|first=Christopher Heath|last=Wellman|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|year=2014|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sco4AAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA32 32], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Sco4AAAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA50 50]|isbn=9780199982189}}</ref> Wellman calls this position "patriotist" rather than "nationalist" to single out the members of territorial, political units rather than cultural groups.<ref name="LRRECS"/>

=== Opposition ===
{{Main|Anti-patriotism}}
[[Voltaire]] stated that "It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind."<ref>{{cite book|author=Voltaire|chapter=Country|title=A Philosophical Dictionary|title-link=Dictionnaire philosophique|volume=II|year=1824|orig-year=1764|location=London|publisher=John & H.L. Hunt|page=327}}</ref> [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] wrote that "The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which a person can be proud."<ref>{{cite book|last=Schopenhauer|first=Arthur|chapter=The Wisdom of Life|title=The Wisdom of Life, and Other Essays|location=London|publisher=M. Walter Dunne|translator-first1=Bailey|translator-last1=Saunders|translator-first2=Ernest Belfort|translator-last2=Bax|series=Universal Classics Library|orig-year=1851|year=1901|url=https://archive.org/details/wisdomoflife0000scho|url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/wisdomoflife0000scho/page/n22/mode/1up|chapter-url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/wisdomoflife0000scho/page/52/mode/1up 52]}}</ref>

[[Kōtoku Shūsui]], a famous Japanese [[anarchist]] of the late 19th/early 20th century, devoted a large section of his widely read ''Imperialism, Monster of the Twentieth Century'' to a condemnation of patriotism.<ref name=Tierney>{{cite book|translator-last=Tierney|translator-first=Robert|title=Imperialism: Monster of the Twentieth Century|first=Shūsui|last=Kōtoku|year=1901|url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/shusui-kotoku-imperialism}}</ref>{{rp|5}} One of the many arguments is based on the [[Confucianism|Confucian]] value of empathy: "I am as convinced as [[Mencius]] that any man would rush without hesitation to rescue a child who was about to fall into a well... A human being moved by such selfless love and charity does not pause to think whether the child is a family member or a close relative. When he rescues the child from danger, he does not even ask himself whether the child is his own or belongs to another."{{r|Tierney|page=143}} Patriotism is used to dehumanize others whom we would naturally have empathy for. He argues, "[P]atriotism is a discriminating and arbitrary sentiment confined to those who belong to a single nation-state or live together within common national borders",{{r|Tierney|page=59}} a sentiment cultivated and used by militarists in their drive for war. 

[[Marxists]] have taken various stances regarding patriotism. On one hand, [[Karl Marx]] famously stated that "The working men have no country"<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm |title=Manifesto of the Communist Party|year=1848|chapter=II. Proletarians and Communists |publisher=Marxists.org |access-date=2013-11-03}}</ref> and that "the supremacy of the proletariat will cause [national differences] to vanish still faster." The same view is promoted by present-day [[Trotskyism|Trotskyists]] such as [[Alan Woods (political theorist)|Alan Woods]], who is "in favor of tearing down all frontiers and creating a socialist world commonwealth."<ref>{{cite web|title=Alan Woods outlines the resistance to capitalism at Montreal's Concordia University|first=Isa|last=Al-Jaza'iri|date=2 November 2012|url=https://www.marxist.com/alan-woods-talks-at-concordia-u-montreal.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210133415/http://www.marxist.com/alan-woods-talks-at-concordia-u-montreal.htm|archive-date=December 10, 2014|website=In Defence of Marxism}}</ref> On the other hand, [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninists]] and [[Maoism|Maoists]] are usually in favor of [[socialist patriotism]] based on the theory of [[socialism in one country]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Motyl|first=Alexander J.|author-link=Alexander J. Motyl|title=Encyclopedia of Nationalism, Volume II|year=2001|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-12-227230-1}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2023}}

Against [[Primordialism|primordial]] arguments in favour of national patriotism, [[Eric Hobsbawm]] wrote that such a concept was - for most of human history - "so remote from the real experience of most human beings".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hobsbawm |first=Eric | title=Nations and nationalism since 1780 |edition=2nd |year=1992 |page=46}}</ref>

[[Anarchism|Anarchists]] oppose patriotism.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Primoratz |first1=Igor |title=Philosophical and Political Perspectives |last2=Pavkovic |first2=Aleksandar |editor-first1=Aleksandar |editor-last1=Pavkovic |year=2016 |doi=10.4324/9781315599724|isbn=9781317083177 }}</ref> This was exemplified by [[Emma Goldman]], who stated: <blockquote>Indeed, conceit, arrogance, and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, and more intelligent than the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living in that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in an attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldman|first=Emma|title=Patriotism: a menace to liberty |year=1917|url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-patriotism-a-menace-to-liberty |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=The Anarchist Library |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

===Region-specific issues===
In the [[European Union]], thinkers such as [[Jürgen Habermas]] have advocated a "[[Euro-patriotism]]", but patriotism in Europe is usually directed at the [[nation-state]] and more often than not coincides with "[[Euroscepticism]]".<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Grygiel |first1=Jakub |title=The Return of Europe's Nation-States |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/europe/return-europes-nation-states|url-access=subscription |website=Foreign Affairs Magazine |date=3 October 2016 |publisher=Hein Company |access-date=January 14, 2021}}</ref>