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Message about patriotism. What is Patriotism

Message about patriotism. What is Patriotism

31.03.2019

We hear about patriotism every day from TV screens, read about it in newspapers and on the Internet. However, often true value This word remains incomprehensible to many. Let's try to define it, as well as the meaning of the expression "conscious patriotism."

General meaning of the word "patriotism"

Like many others, the word "patriotism" was originally Greek. Its root means "fatherland" or "compatriot". Today, the meaning of this lexeme includes the following concepts:

Sincere and gratuitous love for the Motherland.
Pride in the cultural and other achievements of their people and the country as a whole.
Solidarity with the rest of the inhabitants of the country and the desire to act together with them.
The desire to make our native land better, achieve great results and make our own contribution to the development of the state.

The division of patriotism into conscious and unconscious is conditional. Let's try to understand what the first of these expressions means.

The meaning of the expression "conscious patriotism"

I believe that conscious patriotism is love and respect for the Motherland, which a person begins to experience over the years. Initially, we all just treat our country well, because our parents and friends live here, native home etc.

Conscious patriotism becomes only after many years. By this time, a person is already familiar with the history of his native state, its culture and originality. He is able to soberly assess all the advantages and disadvantages of his country. And then, having accepted the Motherland as it is, people become real patriots.

I also think that conscious love for native land necessarily includes the desire to change it for the better. After all, if we treat someone well, we always wish him well. So it is with the Motherland: if a person really does not love, then he wants to correct all the shortcomings and solve the problems of the state where he was born.

It does not seem to me that there are many conscious patriots in the world. However, even a small number of them is a huge driving force for any country. Therefore, such a feeling must be instilled and developed from an early age.

Types of patriotism

Patriotism can manifest itself in the following forms:

polis patriotism- existed in ancient city-states (polises);
imperial patriotism- maintained feelings of loyalty to the empire and its government;
ethnic patriotism- at the base has feelings of love for his ethnic group;
state patriotism- at the base lie feelings of love for the state.
leavened patriotism (cheers-patriotism)- at the base lie hypertrophied feelings of love for the state and its people.

Patriotism in history

A car magnet is a popular way to show patriotism for all parties in the US 2004

The concept itself had a different content and was understood in different ways. In antiquity, the term patria ("homeland") was applied to the native city-state, but not to wider communities (such as Hellas, Italy); thus, the term patriota meant an adherent of his city-state, although, for example, a feeling of general Greek patriotism existed at least since the time of the Greco-Persian wars, and in the works of Roman writers of the early Empire one can see a peculiar feeling of Italian patriotism.

Imperial Rome, in turn, saw Christianity as a threat to imperial patriotism. Despite the fact that Christians preached obedience to the authorities and offered prayers for the well-being of the empire, they refused to take part in imperial cults, which, in the opinion of the emperors, should contribute to the growth of imperial patriotism.

The preaching of Christianity about the heavenly homeland and the idea of the Christian community as a special "people of God" raised doubts about the loyalty of Christians to the earthly fatherland.

But later in the Roman Empire there was a rethinking of the political role of Christianity. After the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire, it began to use Christianity to strengthen the unity of the empire, counteract local nationalism and local paganism, forming ideas about the Christian empire as the earthly homeland of all Christians.

In the Middle Ages, when loyalty to the civil collective gave way to loyalty to the monarch, the term lost its relevance and acquired it again in modern times.

In the era of the American and French bourgeois revolutions, the concept of "patriotism" was identical to the concept of "nationalism", with a political (non-ethnic) understanding of the nation; for this reason, in France and America at that time, the concept of "patriot" was synonymous with the concept of "revolutionary". The symbols of this revolutionary patriotism are the Declaration of Independence and the Marseillaise. With the advent of the concept of "nationalism", patriotism began to be opposed to nationalism, as commitment to the country (territory and state) - commitment to the human community (nation). However, often these concepts act as synonyms or close in meaning.

The Rejection of Patriotism by the Universalist Ethic

Patriotism and Christian Tradition

Early Christianity

The consistent universalism and cosmopolitanism of early Christianity, its preaching of a heavenly homeland as opposed to earthly fatherlands, and the notion of the Christian community as a special "people of God" undermined the very foundations of polis patriotism. Christianity denied any differences not only between the peoples of the empire, but also between the Romans and the "barbarians". The apostle Paul taught: “If you have risen with Christ, then seek the things above (…) putting on the new<человека>where there is no Greek, no Jew, no circumcision, no uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is everything and in everything "(Colossians 3:11). According to the apologetic "Epistle to Diognetus" attributed to Justin Martyr, “They (Christians) live in their own country, but as strangers (…). For them, every foreign country is a fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign country. (...) They are on earth, but they are citizens of heaven " The French historian Ernest Renan formulated the position of the early Christians as follows: “The Church is the homeland of the Christian, as the synagogue is the homeland of the Jew; Christian and Jew live in every country as strangers. A Christian hardly recognizes a father or mother. He owes nothing to the empire (…) The Christian does not rejoice in the victories of the empire; he considers public disasters to be the fulfillment of prophecies dooming the world to destruction from barbarians and fire. .

Contemporary Christian Authors on Patriotism

Patriotism is undoubtedly relevant. This is the feeling that makes the people and every person responsible for the life of the country. Without patriotism there is no such responsibility. If I do not think about my people, then I have no home, no roots. Because the house is not only comfort, it is also the responsibility for the order in it, it is the responsibility for the children who live in this house. A person without patriotism, in fact, does not have his own country. And a "man of the world" is the same as a homeless person.
Let's remember gospel parable about the prodigal son. The young man left home, and then returned, and his father forgave him, accepted him with love. Usually in this parable they pay attention to how the father acted when he accepted prodigal son. But we must not forget that the son, having wandered around the world, returned to his home, because it is impossible for a person to live without his foundations and roots.
<…>It seems to me that the feeling of love for one's own people is as natural to a person as the feeling of love for God. It can be distorted. And humanity throughout its history has more than once distorted the feeling invested by God. But it is.
And here is another very important thing. The feeling of patriotism should in no case be confused with a feeling of hostility towards other peoples. Patriotism in this sense is consonant with Orthodoxy. One of the most important commandments of Christianity: do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you. Or, as it sounds in the Orthodox doctrine in the words of Seraphim of Sarov: save yourself, acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved. The same patriotism. Do not destroy in others, but build in yourself. Then others will treat you with respect. I think that today this is the main task of patriots in our country: the creation of our own country.

Alexy II. Interview to the newspaper "Trud"

On the other hand, according to the Orthodox theologian hegumen Peter (Meshcherinov), love for the earthly homeland is not something that expresses the essence Christian doctrine and obligatory for a Christian. However, the church, at the same time, finding its historical existence on earth, is not an opponent of patriotism, as a healthy and natural feeling of love. At the same time, however, she “does not perceive any natural feeling as a moral given, for a person is a fallen being, and a feeling, even such as love, left to itself, does not leave the state of fall, but in a religious aspect leads to paganism.” Therefore, "patriotism has dignity from a Christian point of view and receives an ecclesiastical meaning if and only if love for the motherland is an active implementation of God's commandments in relation to it."

Contemporary Christian publicist Dmitry Talantsev considers patriotism an anti-Christian heresy. In his opinion, patriotism puts the motherland in the place of God, while " Christian worldview implies a fight against evil, upholding the truth completely regardless of where, in which country this evil occurs and a departure from the truth.

Contemporary criticism of patriotism

In modern times, Leo Tolstoy considered patriotism a feeling "rude, harmful, shameful and bad, and most importantly - immoral." He believed that patriotism inevitably gives rise to wars and serves the main support state oppression. Tolstoy believed that patriotism was deeply alien to the Russian people, as well as to the working representatives of other peoples: in all his life he had not heard from the representatives of the people any sincere expressions of a feeling of patriotism, but on the contrary, he heard many times expressions of disdain and contempt for patriotism.

Tell people that war is bad, they will laugh: who does not know this? Say that patriotism is bad, and most people will agree to this, but with a small caveat. Yes, bad patriotism is bad, but there is another patriotism, the one we hold on to. - But what is this good patriotism, no one explains. If good patriotism consists in not being aggressive, as many say, then after all, all patriotism, if it is not aggressive, is certainly restraining, that is, that people want to keep what was previously conquered, since there is no such country that It would not be founded by conquest, and what has been conquered cannot be retained by other means than by the same means by which something is conquered, that is, by violence, murder. If, however, patriotism is not even restraining, then it is the restorative patriotism of the conquered, oppressed peoples - Armenians, Poles, Czechs, Irish, etc. And this patriotism is perhaps the worst, because it is the most embittered and requires the greatest violence. They will say: "Patriotism has bound people into states and maintains the unity of states." But after all, people have already united in states, this thing has been accomplished; why now support the exclusive devotion of people to their state, when this devotion produces terrible disasters for all states and peoples. After all, the very patriotism that brought about the unification of people into states is now destroying these very states. After all, if there were only one patriotism: the patriotism of the English alone, then one could consider it unifying or beneficent, but when, as now, there is patriotism: American, English, German, French, Russian, all opposed to one another, then patriotism is no longer connects and separates.

L. Tolstoy. Patriotism or Peace?

One of Tolstoy's favorite expressions was the aphorism of Samuel Johnson: Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, in his April Theses, ideologically branded the "revolutionary defencists" as compromisers with the Provisional Government. University of Chicago professor Paul Gomberg compares patriotism with racism, in the sense that both involve moral obligations and human ties, primarily with representatives of "their" community. Critics of patriotism also note the following paradox: if patriotism is a virtue, and during the war, soldiers of both parties are patriots, they are equally virtuous; but it is for virtue that they kill each other, although ethics forbids killing for virtue.

Ideas for the synthesis of patriotism and cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism is usually considered the opposite of patriotism, as the ideology of world citizenship and "homeland-world", in which "attachment to one's people and fatherland seems to lose all interest from the point of view of universal ideas." . In particular, such opposition in the USSR during Stalin's time led to a struggle against "rootless cosmopolitans".

On the other hand, there are ideas of synthesis of cosmopolitanism and patriotism, in which the interests of the homeland and the world, one's people and humanity are understood as subordinate, as the interests of the part and the whole, with the unconditional priority of universal human interests. So, English writer and Christian thinker Clive Staples Lewis wrote: "patriotism - good quality, much better than the selfishness inherent in the individualist, but universal brotherly love is higher than patriotism, and if they come into conflict with each other, then brotherly love should be preferred ". This approach is modern German philosopher M. Riedel already finds in Immanuel Kant. Contrary to the neo-Kantians, who focus on the universalist content of Kant's ethics and his idea of creating a world republic and a universal legal and political order, M. Riedel believes that Kant's patriotism and cosmopolitanism are not opposed to each other, but mutually agreed, and Kant sees both in patriotism, so in cosmopolitanism manifestations of love. According to M. Riedel, Kant, in contrast to the universalist cosmopolitanism of the Enlightenment, emphasizes that a person, in accordance with the idea of world citizenship, is involved in both the fatherland and the world, believing that a person, as a citizen of the world and the earth, is a true “cosmopolitan”, in order to “promote the good of everything of the world, should have an inclination to be attached to his country.” .

IN pre-revolutionary Russia this idea was defended by Vladimir Solovyov, arguing with the neo-Slavophile theory of self-sufficient "cultural-historical types". . In an article on cosmopolitanism in the ESBE, Solovyov argued: “just as love for the fatherland does not necessarily contradict attachment to closer social groups, for example, to his family, so devotion to universal interests does not exclude patriotism. The question is only in the final or highest standard for evaluating this or that moral interest; and, no doubt, the decisive advantage here must belong to the good of the whole of mankind, as including the true good of each part.. On the other hand, Solovyov saw the prospects for patriotism as follows: Idolatry in relation to one’s own people, being associated with actual enmity towards strangers, is thereby doomed to inevitable death. (...) Everywhere, consciousness and life are preparing for the assimilation of a new, true idea of patriotism, derived from the essence of the Christian principle: “by virtue of natural love and moral duties to his fatherland to consider its interest and dignity mainly in those higher blessings that do not divide, but unite people and peoples ” .

Notes

in Brockhaus and Efron contains words about P. as a moral virtue.
Survey example public opinion shows that the majority of respondents support patriotic slogans.
"Culture shock" of August 2, a discussion about Russian patriotism, Viktor Erofeev, Alexei Chadayev, Ksenia Larina. Radio "Echo of Moscow".
on the VTsIOM website.
An example of the interpretation of patriotism: “Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov:“ Patriotism is love for one’s country, and not hatred for someone else’s” - Interview with Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church Dimitry Smirnov to Boris Klin, Izvestia newspaper, September 12. Among the theses of the interviewee: patriotism is not related to the attitude of a person to the policy of the state, patriotism cannot mean hatred for someone else, patriotism is cultivated with the help of religion, etc.
Information material of VTsIOM. 2006 opinion poll report on Russian patriotism. In this report, there is no common perception of society about patriotism and patriots.
An example of the interpretation of patriotism: The Virus of Betrayal, unsigned material, article from a selection of a far-right website nationalist organization RNU. It contains the opinion that it is the duty of a true patriot to support anti-Zionist actions.
Georgy Kurbatov The evolution of the polis ideology, the spiritual and cultural life of the city. Archived from the original on November 19, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2012.
See English. Wikipedia
http://ippk.edu.mhost.ru/content/view/159/34/
http://kropka.ru/refs/70/26424/1.html
Epistle to Diognetus: Justin Martyr
E. J. Renan. Marcus Aurelius and the end of the ancient world
Alexy II. Interview to the newspaper "Trud" / November 3, 2005
O. Peter (Meshcherinov). Life in the church. Reflections on patriotism.
D. Talantsev. Heresy of Patriotism / Treasure of Truth: Christian Magazine
http://az.lib.ru/t/tolstoj_lew_nikolaewich/text_0750-1.shtml
Paul Gomberg, "Patriotism is Like Racism," in Igor Primoratz, ed., Patriotism, Humanity Books, 2002, pp. 105-112. ISBN 1-57392-955-7.
Cosmopolitanism - Brockhaus and Efron Small Encyclopedic Dictionary
"cosmopolitans". Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
Clive Staples Lewis. Just Christianity
http://www.politjournal.ru/index.php?action=Articles&dirid=67&tek=6746&issue=188
Universalism of human rights and patriotism (Kant's political testament) (Riedel M.)
Boris Mezhuev
[Patriotism]- an article from the Small Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

What is Patriotism

Patriotism is a term used to describe feelings of love and devotion to one's people, nation, country, or community. By itself, the term patriotism is very broad and ambiguous. It includes a whole host of different feelings, and aspects of which we will discuss below.

What is Patriotism in simple words - a brief definition.

Simply put, patriotism is love for one's country, one's nation and one's culture. As a rule, patriotism includes such main aspects as:

Special attachment to one's country;
Feeling of personal identification with the country;
Special concern for the welfare of the country;
Willingness to sacrifice oneself to contribute to the well-being of the country.

In some respects, patriotism is a certain social and moral principle which makes a person feel attached to his country. It evokes a sense of pride in one's nation, country or culture.

The basis and essence of Patriotism.

As it has already become clear from the definition itself, the basis or essence of patriotism is selfless love and attachment to their country.

« But, is it so good, and why is patriotism actually needed?»

The answer to this question is very complex and ambiguous. The fact is that if you rely on the fundamental works of various researchers of this phenomenon, you can find that they are divided into two camps.

Some argue that patriotism is a very positive phenomenon capable of developing and strengthening the state, supporting and preserving it. cultural traditions and customs. Others argue that such attachment to their state and specifically their culture contributes to the development of overly nationalistic and sentiments that do not really fit with.

We will talk about the connection between patriotism and nationalism later, but now we will continue to develop the answer to the question posed above. So, if we ignore the already formed points of view, we can say that all the statements of adherents and opponents of patriotism are right in their own way. The fact is that there is nothing wrong with the very idea of love for one's country, but everything should be in moderation and go, so to speak, from the heart. But, history knows a lot of examples when such love for the fatherland mutated into fanaticism under the influence of manipulations with the people's consciousness. Many military and other crimes were often justified by patriotism. Thus, we can say that patriotism, among other things, is also an excellent tool for controlling the masses. So, answering the above question, we can say that patriotism is a very positive phenomenon within reasonable limits, which is necessary for the preservation and development of individual states of nations and cultures.

Patriotism and nationalism - what's the difference.

Indeed, in addition to the fact that these two terms are often used together, and sometimes replace each other, there is a difference between them. The main difference between these terms is that nationalism is love for one's own nation, one's culture, and one's traditions, and patriotism is love for the country as a whole, including the minorities inhabiting it with their own cultural characteristics.

It is worth noting that in real life these concepts are indeed quite often intertwined, since patriots in most cases are nationalists, although this is not the rule.

If a Russian tells you that he does not love his Motherland, do not believe him, he is not Russian.

Yuri Seleznev. Dostoevsky

True patriotism, like true love never shouts about himself.

Boris Akunin. Mistress of Death

Patriotism as a quality of a person is the ability throughout life to be devoted only to one's fatherland, one's people, to be ready for any sacrifices and deeds in the name of the interests of one's Motherland; attachment to the place of birth, place of residence.

Aut cum scuto, aut in scuto. With a shield or on a shield. IN Ancient Greece Little Sparta, a country of hardened patriots, was famous for patriotism, severe courage and military prowess. There is a legend about a certain Spartan Gorgo. Seeing off her son to the war, she handed him a shield, briefly saying in Spartan: “With him or on him!” This laconic (that is, “purely Spartan” - the Spartans were also called Laconians) parting word meant: either you return victorious, with a shield, or let them bring you on a shield, as the Spartans carried their dead.

Patriotism is a wonderful personality trait that has no statute of limitations. A person, due to the circumstances, can live happily in another country for decades, but his heart is forever given to the Motherland. He cares about her and worries about her. He is unconditionally devoted to her soul.

A person does not wind up his patriotism. It comes naturally from within. For example, the World Cup is underway or Olympic Games, and he unconsciously, with surprise for himself, discovers that he is rooting not for the country where he lived for thirty years, but for his homeland. Millions of Russians ended up outside their homeland after the collapse of the USSR. You meet with them at the next stage of the Biathlon World Cup. Who do you think they root for? For Russia. I say: “You’ve been living outside of Russia for twenty-three years now. Why do you keep rooting for her? They answer: I don't know. Lawless Heart.

Patriotism is when the search for a more preferable homeland is forever completed. The heart has made a choice, cemented it in the soul and it is no longer subject to dismantling. A person is completely affirmed in his choice and now he is not gnawed by doubts, he is in a state of certainty. Having delegated his trust to the fatherland and his people, a person shows devotion to them and, often, puts their interests above his own.

Patriotism - it is like fidelity - once decided on the fatherland and, on the basis of your choice, without any doubt, you show steadfastness and invariability in your feelings, relationships, in the performance of duties and duty.

At the same time, a person must be aware that he is a spiritual entity. Homeland of the soul spiritual world. The soul is eternal. Man living in material world, identifies himself with the body and sometimes forgets that he is here on a short business trip. In this life he is Russian, and in the next, for example, he can become an American or an Afghan. All people are kindred spirits. In the ancient Vedic scriptures, patriotism is treated rather coolly. It is foolish to show devotion to a temporary material place where you live for some 60-70 years. At the same time, you completely lose the realization that you are an eternal soul that has gone through millions of transformations. In past lives you could have been an Englishman, a Jew or a Russian, but you no longer remember that. Maybe you just recently lived 100 years in Japan, but for some reason you don’t consider yourself a patriot of Japan. The person is surprised: - How is it in Japan? I have been living here in Russia for fifty years. In other words, there is an identification of one's soul with the body of a Russian, German, Greek, man, woman, artist, plumber.

Can such an identification, such patriotism, be harmful? Leo Tolstoy wrote: “Patriotism is an immoral feeling because, instead of recognizing oneself as the son of God, as Christianity teaches us, or at least a free man guided by his mind - every person, under the influence of patriotism, recognizes himself as the son of his fatherland, the slave of his government and commits acts that are contrary to his mind and his conscience. George Bernard Shaw said: "Patriotism: the belief that your country is better than others because you were born in it."

Patriotism generated by virtues makes a person sublime. Patriotism, provoked by vices, makes a bawler out of a person - a nationalist. It comes directly from pride. Identification of oneself with a certain nationality is, of course, necessary. Man for personal growth, for improvement and development, it is necessary to have in the material world something that is very dear to him, to which he is strongly attached. A person wants relationships, love, care, responsibility and patronage. Patriotism can awaken selflessness in a person, sincere desire serve others, devotion and loyalty to the fatherland. It promotes the development of spirituality, conscience and morality. Patriotism subordinates its interests to the interests of the Motherland and is ready to stand up for them better than guns and missiles. Even Napoleon noticed: "Love for the Motherland is the first dignity of a civilized person."

A decent person, being a patriot, shows his best personal qualities when it comes to the fate of the fatherland. This is altruism, and heroism, and self-sacrifice. The patriotism of a vicious man can be, in the words of Samuel Johnson, "the last refuge of the wicked." Vicious patriotism is the epitome of extended selfishness. From patriotism one step to nationalism.

Herbert Spencer wrote: “Patriotism in the national sense is the same as selfishness in the individual sense; both, in essence, flow from the same source and bring similar disasters. Respect for one's society is a reflection of respect for oneself. Carl Schurz echoes him: “Whether she is right or not, this is my country: if she is right, I must help her stay right, if not right, help her become right.” Our fighter Fedor Emelianenko says: “Motherland is like a mother. She needs to be loved for who she is. Our mothers sometimes get sick, and different things can happen in the country.”

In a word, patriotism is a quality inherent in many people who are under the influence of the energy of passion. Such people in the material world are the vast majority. Therefore, patriotism must be treated favorably and seriously. Its social color depends on whether its carrier is vicious or virtuous.

The main thing in patriotism is an irrational feeling of love, that is, unconditionality, causelessness and disinterestedness. I love my Motherland without thinking about the reasons. Simply because it is as natural to me as loving my mother and father, as breathing. It is worth here, perhaps, to cite in full famous poem Nikolai Rubtsov "My Quiet Motherland" and Frolov-Krymsky's poem "We are Russians":

Quiet my home!
Willows, river, nightingales...
My mother is buried here
In my childhood.

- Where is the churchyard? You did not see?
I can't find it myself.
The villagers answered quietly:
- It's on the other side.

Silently answered the inhabitants,
The convoy passed quietly.
Church dome
Overgrown with bright grass.

Tina is now a swamp
Where I love to swim...
Quiet my home.
I didn't forget anything.

New fence in front of the school
The same green space.
Like a happy crow
I'm sitting on the fence again!

My wooden school! ..
The time will come to leave
The river behind me is foggy
Will run and run.

With every hut and cloud,
With thunder ready to fall
I feel the most burning
The deadliest bond.

*********************

One eccentric with a face of false sadness,

"huddling" in the cabin of his "Porsche",

He said: “I am ashamed to be called Russian.

We are a nation of mediocre alcoholics.”

Solid appearance, demeanor -

Everything is thought out by the devil.

But the merciless virus of degeneration

Grinding ingloriously all of his insides.

His soul is not worth a penny,

How yellow leaf from broken branches.

But the descendant of the Ethiopians Pushkin

He was not burdened by his Russianness.

They considered themselves Russians by right

	Patriotism in Wiktionary
	Patriotism at Wikiquote