Author(s)

Zhang Liang ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai), Sun Yat-sen University, Tangjiawan Town, Zhuhai, Guangdong, China

Corresponding Author

Zhang Liang

ABSTRACT

Patriotism is a much debated concept in moral philosophy. In this paper I doubt the reasonableness of patriotic education and try to put forward something new to replace it, which I call "education of homeland feelings with cosmopolitanism". By deconstructing the ambiguous and vague concept of "patriotism", I have refuted many traditional arguments for it, and extracted its reasonable components to propose a new theory to replace patriotic education. A good person is supposed to emotionally love the good and the neutral elements of his homeland more than other places, but rationally be cosmopolitan. However, such emotion is natural and can't be eliminated, so we should tolerate a certain degree of partiality but not to intensify such tendency.

KEYWORDS

Patriotism, Cosmopolitanism, Virtue, Partial, Homeland feelings

CITE THIS PAPER

Zhang Liang, Challenging Patriotic Education: A Quest for Alternative Narratives. Philosophy Journal (2025) Vol. 4: 8-18. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/phij.2025.040102.

REFERENCES

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[10] Nathanson, S. (2016). Immigration, Citizenship, and the Clash between Partiality and Impartiality. In Citizenship and Immigration - Borders, Migration and Political Membership in a Global Age (AMINTAPHIL: The Philosophical Foundations of Law and Justice, pp. 137-152). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
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