Patriotism

Patriotism is commonly defined as the love for or devotion to one's country. The word comes from the Latin patria, and Greek patris, pat???. However, "patriotism," or the love of one's country, has come to have different meanings over time. Thus, the meaning of patriotism can be highly dependent upon context, geography and philosophy.

Although patriotism is presently used in certain vernaculars as a synonym for nationalism, nationalism is not considered an inherent part of patriotism. Among the ancient Greeks, patriotism is comprised of notions about Greek ethics, law, morality, devotion to the common good, and ancient Greek religions rather than pure identification with a nation-state. Scholar J. Peter Euben writes that for the Greek philosopher Socrates, "patriotism does not require one to agree with everything that his country does and would actually promote analytical questioning in a quest to make the country the best it possibly can be."

During the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, the notion of patriotism continues to be separate from the notion of nationalism. Instead, patriotism is defined as devotion to humanity and beneficence. For example, providing charity, criticizing slavery, and denouncing excessive penal laws is considered patriotic. In both ancient and modern visions of patriotism, individual responsibility to fellow citizens are inherent components of patriotism.

Many contemporary notions of patriotism are influenced by 19th century ideas about nationalism. During the 19th century, "being patriotic" becomes increasingly conflated with nationalism, and even jingoism. However, some notions of contemporary patriotism reject nationalism in favor of a more classic version of the idea of patriotism which includes social responsibility