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Passions, patriotism and nationalism, and Germaine de Staël 1
Author(s) -
SLUGA GLENDA
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8129.2009.00387.x
Subject(s) - patriotism , nationalism , passions , order (exchange) , sociology , aesthetics , philosophy , religious studies , law , epistemology , political science , politics , finance , economics
. This essay examines the influence of sentimentalism on conceptions of patriotism at the turn of the nineteenth century in order to historicise conventional views of the nature of patriotism as a fundamental human emotion. It uses a focus on the intellectual thought of Germaine de Staël in order to understand how a ‘sentimental’ view of patriotism took hold at a crucial moment in the European history of the idea of the nation and of the conceptualisation of emotions. I argue that de Staël's ideas and influence lead us to a radical reconsideration of the significance of the emotional history of patriotism for how we explain nationalism.