Ethics Theory, TLP-UPSC Mains Answer Writing
Being patriotic is also being ethical. Do you agree? Critically examine.
देशभक्त होना नैतिक भी है। क्या आप सहमत हैं? समालोचनात्मक जाँच कीजिए।
Approach
Candidates can start the answer with highlighting importance of the print medium during struggle and then simply comment on how it mobilized the masses for movement.
Introduction
Patriotism generally can be defined as one’s feeling of love and loyalty towards his/her country. Every state would like to make their citizens feel patriotic and this situation involves several ethical dimensions.
Body
Betterment of a society and progress of the country.
- Patriotism as a natural and appropriate expression of attachment to the country in which we were born and raised and of gratitude for the benefits of life on its soil, among its people, and under its laws.
- Amid the frequent confusion, frustration and anger of our political disagreements, patriotism a deep-seated love of our country remains something that has the potential to bring us together, particularly at times of national crisis or triumph.
- Only an inclusive imagination can breed patriots, since exclusivity breeds division, secession and war. As such Patriotism is not only a display of love and a deep sense of affection for one’s country; it is also a feeling of pride.
- Rabindranath Tagore often used a term ‘Deshabhimaan’ as a synonym for this word in his works which aptly captures one of the dimensions of this word.
- India has a guiding philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ i.e., whole world is my family. Such understanding of patriotism can bring peace and prosperity to the country as well as the world.
Patriotism has had a fair number of criticisms:
- The harshest among them have judged it deeply flawed in every important respect. In the 19th century, Russian novelist and thinker Leo Tolstoy found patriotism both stupid and immoral.
- It is stupid because every patriot holds his own country to be the best of all whereas, obviously, only one country can qualify. Patriotism is most importantly expressed in a readiness to die and to kill for one’s country.
- It is immoral because it enjoins us to promote our country’s interests at the expense of all other countries and by any means, including war, and is thus at odds with the most basic rule of morality, which tells us not to do to others what we would not want them to do to us.
- Love of one’s own country characteristically goes together with dislike of and hostility towards other countries. It tends to encourage militarism, and makes for international tension and conflict.
- Under name of patriotism in sports after losing game to the rival country patriots and sports enthusiast abuse the players and question his patriotism nationalism towards country for example, abusing Md Shami and Arshadeep Singh in Cricket.
- Apart from that, excessive pride in a national identity and display of Patriotism may acquire the form of ‘ultra-nationalism’ and jingoism. Ultra-nationalism inevitably turns exclusionary in nature and hence leads not to the assertion but disintegration of national unity and ultimately identity.
Conclusion
Krishna says in Gita, that there are multiple paths to the same truth. Similarly, there may be more than one way of displaying the patriotism towards one’s country. One must be ready and vigilant to defend one’s national prestige but must not enforce one’s own ideas and ideals of national identity and patriotism upon everyone else.
