This essay cuts right to the heart of it — nationalism's collectivism is not just a political failure, it's a philosophical one. But there's a deeper question underneath: why does the reductive concept of the human being make this so seductive and so dangerous? Viktor Frankl's warning that the gas chambers were prepared not in a Ministry, but at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers. The logic of "Blood and Soil" and the academic formula of "Heredity + Environment" share the same philosophical structure… the erasure of irreducible human freedom.
"Why wouldn’t a nationalist, eager to subordinate and sacrifice individuals within his own nation to the collective, not be eager to do the same to outsiders?"
Well said, mate. Allowing these hotbeds of tribalism to develop in parallel would create a world of countries that otherise and hate one another. If "universal truth" does not exist, then each of those countries could claim that they possess "Aryan logic" or some other noxious derivative, which means that each country would be inaccessible to one another. The logical consequence of this would be imperialism.
This essay cuts right to the heart of it — nationalism's collectivism is not just a political failure, it's a philosophical one. But there's a deeper question underneath: why does the reductive concept of the human being make this so seductive and so dangerous? Viktor Frankl's warning that the gas chambers were prepared not in a Ministry, but at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers. The logic of "Blood and Soil" and the academic formula of "Heredity + Environment" share the same philosophical structure… the erasure of irreducible human freedom.
https://envphil.substack.com/p/the-paradox-of-blood-and-soil-the?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7vamvb
Nationalism vs. freedom - Aristotle's Golden Mean is valuable here.
As I like to say, nationalism is like nitroglycerine: it can either blow up bridges or heal hearts.
"Why wouldn’t a nationalist, eager to subordinate and sacrifice individuals within his own nation to the collective, not be eager to do the same to outsiders?"
Well said, mate. Allowing these hotbeds of tribalism to develop in parallel would create a world of countries that otherise and hate one another. If "universal truth" does not exist, then each of those countries could claim that they possess "Aryan logic" or some other noxious derivative, which means that each country would be inaccessible to one another. The logical consequence of this would be imperialism.