“…It is entirely possible for a person to be caused to love something without noticing its value, or without being at all impressed by its value, or despite recognising that there really is nothing especially valuable about it. It is even possible for a person to come to love something despite recognising that its inherent nature is actually and utterly bad (Frankfurt, 2004, p. 38).We unashamedly love unremarkable cats and dogs, mediocre books, trivial jobs, ugly houses with unmemorable yards, in addition to our perfectly ordinary friends, kin and lovers ... [T]he lover may be perfectly aware of the modest value that the beloved has in the larger scheme of things without that thought diminishing love (Callan, 2006, p. 526).…”
Section: Reasons To Lovementioning
confidence: 99%
“…We unashamedly love unremarkable cats and dogs, mediocre books, trivial jobs, ugly houses with unmemorable yards, in addition to our perfectly ordinary friends, kin and lovers ... [T]he lover may be perfectly aware of the modest value that the beloved has in the larger scheme of things without that thought diminishing love (Callan, 2006, p. 526).…”
Section: Reasons To Lovementioning
confidence: 99%
“…Because ‘we cannot assume nonpatriots will be adequately interested in discerning the justice or injustice of domestic institutions in the first place. Not to care about your country is to lack one familiar motive for caring about whether its political institutions are just’ (Callan, 2006, p. 543). Patriots may be prone to ‘a self‐deception that obscures what is shameful’, but non‐patriots are prone to political apathy, and this means we have ‘no grounds to suppose that patriots have any general disadvantage over nonpatriots in identifying domestic injustice’ (Callan, 2006, p. 543).…”
Section: An Impediment To Civic Judgementmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…There is, at present, a lively debate in philosophy of education about whether or not we should promote patriotism in schools (see, for example, Archard, 1999; Ben‐Porath, 2006; 2007; Brighouse, 2006; Callan, 1997; 2006; Gutmann, 2002; Merry, 2009; Miller, 2007; Nussbaum, 1996; Stevens, 1999; White, 1996; 2001; Wingo, 2007). A striking feature of this debate is the determination of each side to draw the line of battle in a different place.…”
If patriotism is love of one's country, the attempt to promote it in schools must count as a form of emotional education. Emotional education is defensible in so far as it consists in offering pupils good reasons and effective techniques for fostering or suppressing particular emotions. The question is whether we are in a position to offer pupils good reasons for loving their countries. In this article I set out an account of the rationality of emotions in general and of love in particular, and then identify two benefits and one drawback of patriotic attachment. I argue that there is room for reasonable disagreement on the desirability of patriotism and that we therefore ought not to promote it in schools but rather to teach it as a controversial issue.
“…It is entirely possible for a person to be caused to love something without noticing its value, or without being at all impressed by its value, or despite recognising that there really is nothing especially valuable about it. It is even possible for a person to come to love something despite recognising that its inherent nature is actually and utterly bad (Frankfurt, 2004, p. 38).We unashamedly love unremarkable cats and dogs, mediocre books, trivial jobs, ugly houses with unmemorable yards, in addition to our perfectly ordinary friends, kin and lovers ... [T]he lover may be perfectly aware of the modest value that the beloved has in the larger scheme of things without that thought diminishing love (Callan, 2006, p. 526).…”
Section: Reasons To Lovementioning
confidence: 99%
“…We unashamedly love unremarkable cats and dogs, mediocre books, trivial jobs, ugly houses with unmemorable yards, in addition to our perfectly ordinary friends, kin and lovers ... [T]he lover may be perfectly aware of the modest value that the beloved has in the larger scheme of things without that thought diminishing love (Callan, 2006, p. 526).…”
Section: Reasons To Lovementioning
confidence: 99%
“…Because ‘we cannot assume nonpatriots will be adequately interested in discerning the justice or injustice of domestic institutions in the first place. Not to care about your country is to lack one familiar motive for caring about whether its political institutions are just’ (Callan, 2006, p. 543). Patriots may be prone to ‘a self‐deception that obscures what is shameful’, but non‐patriots are prone to political apathy, and this means we have ‘no grounds to suppose that patriots have any general disadvantage over nonpatriots in identifying domestic injustice’ (Callan, 2006, p. 543).…”
Section: An Impediment To Civic Judgementmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…There is, at present, a lively debate in philosophy of education about whether or not we should promote patriotism in schools (see, for example, Archard, 1999; Ben‐Porath, 2006; 2007; Brighouse, 2006; Callan, 1997; 2006; Gutmann, 2002; Merry, 2009; Miller, 2007; Nussbaum, 1996; Stevens, 1999; White, 1996; 2001; Wingo, 2007). A striking feature of this debate is the determination of each side to draw the line of battle in a different place.…”
If patriotism is love of one's country, the attempt to promote it in schools must count as a form of emotional education. Emotional education is defensible in so far as it consists in offering pupils good reasons and effective techniques for fostering or suppressing particular emotions. The question is whether we are in a position to offer pupils good reasons for loving their countries. In this article I set out an account of the rationality of emotions in general and of love in particular, and then identify two benefits and one drawback of patriotic attachment. I argue that there is room for reasonable disagreement on the desirability of patriotism and that we therefore ought not to promote it in schools but rather to teach it as a controversial issue.
“…Archard 1999;Ben-Porath 2006Brighouse 2006;Callan 1997Callan , 2006Gutmann 2002;Merry 2009;Miller 2007;Nussbaum 1996;Stevens 1999;White 1996White , 2001Wingo 2007). This debate has a number of dimensions and permutations, but we believe that the crux of the matter is whether or not there are compelling reasons for citizens to love their countries.…”
Because there are good arguments both for and against loving one's country, patriotism should be taught as a controversial issue in schools. But is this pedagogical approach practically viable in the British educational context? Here we report on a small-scale survey of teachers and students in secondary schools and show that their perspectives and practices are highly compatible with our recommended approach. ). This debate has a number of dimensions and permutations, but we believe that the crux of the matter is whether or not there are compelling reasons for citizens to love their countries. If there are, students can be presented with these reasons and encouraged to develop the appropriate attachment; if there are not, the desirability of patriotism is an open question and any attempt to foster it in schools is bound to be miseducational. In our judgement, the benefits of patriotic attachment, though not insignificant, are counterbalanced by equally significant drawbacks. The question of the desirability of patriotism is rationally unsettled, so the topic ought properly to be taught as a controversial issue. Students should be made aware of the principal arguments for and against patriotism and enabled to form their own considered judgements on the matter. We have elaborated and defended this view in detail elsewhere (Hand in press; Hand and Pearce 2009).For the purposes of this article, we take it as read that the right educational approach to patriotism is to teach it as a controversial issue. The question we explore here is whether this approach is practically viable in British schools, in the context of teachers' and students' perspectives on patriotism and how it should be handled in the classroom. We present the findings of a small-scale survey of teachers and students in secondary schools in south-east England and examine the ways in which their views and practices cohere or conflict with the policy of teaching patriotism as a controversial issue. We conclude with a set of practical recommendations for teaching in this area.
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