PREFACE
Patriotism is a live issue. It is almost impossible for any one to be neutral about it. All men seem to feel that the issue involved is one that touches the fundamental interests of their lives. Patriotism is an important concept.
But not all men take the same stand regarding patriotism. There is hot disagreement upon the question of its moral value. Some champion it as one of the noblest of all virtues; others spurn it as one of the basest. Therefore it is highly desirable to arrive at a fair judgment of the ethical value of patriotism.
One of the chief reasons for the radical disagreement about the morality of patriotism is that there are widely different assumptions as to its nature. It is a sentiment of manifold varieties, and the word patriotism may carry quite different implications to different minds. The first necessary step, then, before one can pass an ethical judgment upon it, is to find out what the core of patriotism is.
This dissertation begins, therefore, by undertaking to determine the nature of patriotism, and with no more of a clue in hand than the one that it is “the love of country” tries, by an inductive investigation of what has actually been called patriotism, to bring together the important facts in which patriotism is manifested. Hence, while the main purpose of the essay is an ethical one, a large portion of it is given to inductive analysis. The first three parts are mainly analytical. The fourth part endeavors to unify in a central concept the data gathered together in the preceding parts, and, in the light of that concept and all the facts, to evaluate patriotism as an ethical ideal. It may be noted here that the first three parts are printed as they were in the typewritten form presented to Yale University as a thesis, but that part four has undergone much rearrangement and revision. Chapter eight has been largely rewritten; chapter nine is entirely new; and what here appears as chapter ten has been somewhat changed.
Acknowledgement is hereby made to the members of the faculty of the department of philosophy in Yale University for many helpful criticisms. Especially is a debt owed to Professor Charles A. Bennett, who suggested the field of patriotism as a fruitful one for investigation, under whose direction the work was done, and whose criticisms and suggestions have made more definite than would otherwise have been the case, the problems involved. Thanks are due to Professor Luther A. Weigle, who read the manuscript, and helped to clarify and make accurate the expression of the ideas. And my gratitude is given to my wife, whose assistance in the final preparation of the manuscript was invaluable, and who by her constant helpfulness and loyalty made it possible for the whole work to be brought to completion.
Indianapolis, January, 1920.