Inside the Asylum

...but shorter and worth watching.

Many philosophers have a problem with patriotism, or love of country. When they try to explain what that problem is they usually sound just like Will Wilkinson (commenting on George Kateb).

We all are touched with what Yi-Fu Tuan calls “topophilia,” a sentimental connection to place, and cannot avoid indulging in it. But we can avoid making an overriding ideal of it. Indepedence Day ought not be a celebration of this place, America, its imaginary history, and the imaginary solidarity of its people. It ought to be a celebration of the universal ideal of a society in which all are equally without right to rule one another and equally invested with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — a celebration of the ideals of the Declaration.

Philosophers have just the same problem with romantic love. After articulating the characteristics that do, or should, make someone lovable, they stumble in explaining why one does, or should, love some particular person, instead of everyone who is lovable. Having stumbled, they make the error of telling us to love the abstract characteristics that make something lovable, rather than the particular entities, people or societies, that are lovable.

Independence day ought to be a celebration of a society in which all are equally without right to rule one another and equally invested with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — a celebration of a society that embodies the ideals of the Declaration.