Americans are in the midst of an important debate about the virtues and dangers of nationalism. Unfortunately, interlocutors are not always clear about what "nationalism" means. Distinctions from the work of Jacques Maritain can help clarify matters. https://t.co/p466IMHLzp
— Public Discourse (@PublicDiscourse) July 8, 2020
Public Discourse
Smith quotes Maritain's definition of nation but ignores its implications for identity and immigration:
The word Nation originates from the Latin nasci, that is, from the notion of birth, but the nation is not something biological, like the Race. It is something ethico-social: a human community based on the fact of birth and lineage, yet with all the moral connotations of those terms: birth to the life of reason and the activities of civilization, lineage in familial traditions, social and juridical formation, cultural heritage, common conceptions and manners, historical recollections, sufferings, claims, hopes, prejudices, and resentments.
Any (correct) interpretation of Maritain that would imply some sort of ethnonationalism (or "nationalism," if the meaning of nation had not been subverted by the state) would be too unpleasant for respectable conservatives like Smith to consider.
No comments:
Post a Comment