Patriotism’s Dilemma

Lessons from The Godfather

The idea of patriotism – love of country – is an ancient one.  It goes back to the Greek word patris (place of one’s ancestors) and the Latin patria (fatherland).  Like every form of love, patriotism is partly determined by the object of its affection.  Is love of country unconditional – ...
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Patriotism’s Dilemma

Expendable Bodies

What Sophocles can teach us about our political moment

An ancient Greek tragedy, Sophocles’s Philoctetes, can help us to think holistically about our own political moment. What Sophocles shows us is that the same bodies the polity dominates, annihilates, or consigns to suffering in isolation it also tends to use for its own ends. That political communities too often view ...
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Expendable Bodies