Is Nationalism Philosophically Credible?

Abstract

In the first place the concept of nationalism, which has been traditionally joined to the ambiguous idea of a free country and free citizens, is analysed; a dubious problematic relationship given the distance between State and Society. This difficulty justifies nationalism having been considered a significant but regrettable political phenomenon. In an attempt to resolve this difficulty the author clarifies and critisizes the liberal idea of a free country, where liberty is considered an individual value preliminary to society. Individuals are products of Society, and, therefore, individual autonomy is not the only way to structure to defend liberty. If the nation is a constituent element of individual identity, cannot be ignored when discussing the subject of liberty. So, national self-determination is an esential part of liberty as autonomy. Given that nations are not chimeras, a resonable nationalism, that flees from the exclusivity and absolutism of the past, is morally and philosophically acceptable. Finally it is important to note that there are signs in the European Communinty that we are learning to go beyond the sovereign State without dissolving the nation.