'Patriotism', 'cosmopolitanism' and 'humanity' in Victorian political thought

European Journal of Political Theory

Volumn 5, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 100-118

  Varouxakis, Georgios ^a  

^a QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Arnold; Cosmopolitanism; Green; Harrison; Humanity; Maurice; Mill; Nationalism; Patriotism; Pearson; Seeley; Sidgwick; Spencer

Indexed keywords

EID: 33646074520     PISSN: 14748851     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1474885106059071     Document Type: Article

References (83)

1. Georgios Varouxakis (2001) 'Patriotism' in A.S. Leoussi (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Nationalism, pp. 239-42. New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction Publishers.
2. Georgios Varouxakis (2002) Mill on Nationality, pp. 1-20 and passim. London and New York: Routledge.
3. It is important to note that Mill introduced very significant changes to his initial text in later editions of the Logic, which go a long way towards showing that he was worried about the implications of 'nationality' and wished to promote a kind of enlightened patriotism instead. See more in Varouxakis (n. 2), pp. 126-7.
4. Emphasis added.
5. John Stuart Mill (1963-91) The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, general editor F.E.L. Priestley and subsequently John M. Robson, 33 vols, vol. 8, p. 923. Toronto and London: University of Toronto Press.
6. See Georgios Varouxakis (2002) Victorian Political Thought on France and the French, pp. 4-11, 13-14, 15, 16-21, 35-47. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave. Also, Varouxakis (n. 2), pp. 94-110.
7. Cf. Jeremy Bentham (1992) 'Principles of International Law', in J. Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, ed. John Bowring, vol. 2, pp. 535-60. Edinburgh: William Tait. Anthony Ellis (1992) 'Utilitarianism and International Ethics'; in Terry Nardin and David R. Mapel (eds) Traditions of International Ethics, pp. 158-79, esp. p. 164. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. 'Utility of Religion', in Mill (n. 5), vol. 10, pp. 420-3.
9. Emphasis (both times) added: Ibid., vol. 10, p. 421.
10. Varouxakis (n. 6), pp. 21-30. For Stephen's conception of patriotism see: Julia Stapleton (1998) 'James Fitzjames Stephen: Liberalism, Patriotism, and English Liberty', Victorian Studies 41: 243-65.
11. See e.g. Mill (n. 5), vol. 21, p. 112.
12. See Matthew Arnold (1960-77) The Complete Prose Works of Matthew Arnold, ed. R.H. Super, 11 vols, vol. 5, p. 370 (editor's 'Critical and explanatory notes'). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
13. M. Arnold, 'My Countrymen', ibid., vol. 5, p. 27.
14. James Fitzjames Stephen (1866) 'Mr. Arnold and the Middle Classes', Saturday Review 21: 161-3, esp. p. 163.
15. Nassau W. Senior (1842) 'France, America, and Britain', Edinburgh Review 75: 1-48, pp. 18-20.
16. For some examples see Arnold (n. 12), vol. 5, pp. 27, 29-31. Also, M. Arnold (1996-2002) The Letters of Matthew Arnold, ed. Cecil Y. Lang, 6 vols, vol. 2, p. 367. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia. Cf. Varouxakis (n. 6), pp. 25-7.
17. See Herbert Spencer (1873) 'The Study of Sociology: IX. The Bias of Patriotism', The Contemporary Review 21: 475-502, esp. pp. 485-502. Also, Esmé Wingfield-Stratford (1913) The History of English Patriotism, 2 vols, vol. 2, pp. 390-9. London: John Lane.
18. See e.g. Arnold (n. 12), vol. 5, p. 355.
19. Emphasis added: Arnold (n. 16), vol. 3, pp. 17-18.
20. For an oft-quoted account of the impartiality thesis in contemporary political philosophy see Thomas E. Hill, Jr., 'The Importance of Autonomy', in Eva Kittay and Diane Meyers (eds) (1998) Women and Moral Theory. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Allanheld.
21. Spencer (n. 17).
22. Ibid. pp. 476-7.
23. David Duncan (1908) The Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer, p. 449. London: Methuen.
24. Herbert Spencer, 'Patriotism', in H. Spencer (1902) Facts and Comments, pp. 122-7. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Cf. Spencer, 'Imperialism and Slavery' ibid. pp. 157-71; 'Re-barbarization', ibid. pp. 172-88.
25. See David Weinstein (2005) 'Imagining Darwinism', in Bart Schultz and Georgios Varouxakis (eds) Utilitarianism and Empire, pp. 189-209. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
26. Spencer (n. 24).
27. Ibid. p. 125. In The Man versus the State (1884) Spencer had attacked the solicitude of some 'to maintain our supposed national "interests" or national "prestige"' by aggressive imperialist wars and what he called 'this extreme concern for those of our own blood which goes along with utter unconcern for those of other blood'. Herbert Spencer (1994) Political Writings, ed. John Offer, pp. 132-3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28. Cf. Ernest Barker (1914) Political Thought in England: From Herbert Spencer to the Present Day, pp. 42-7. New York: Henry Holt. Peter P. Nicholson (1990) The Political Philosophy of the British Idealists: Selected Studies, p. 307, n. 122. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
29. Emphasis added. Thomas Hill Green (1931) Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation, ed. Bernard Bosanquet, p. 166. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
30. Ibid. pp. 159, 170-3.
31. Ibid. p. 175.
32. Emphasis added.
33. Emphasis added. Ibid. pp. 159-76.
34. Ibid. p. 177.
35. Ibid. p. 178.
36. Ibid. pp. 177-9.
37. T.H. Green (1890) Prolegomena to Ethics, 3rd edition, ed. A.C. Bradley, pp. 217-31. Oxford: Clarendon Press. For more on Green and other British idealists on related issues see David Boucher (1994) 'British Idealism, the State, and International Relations', Journal of the History of Ideas 55: 671-94. David Boucher (1995) 'British Idealist International Theory', Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain 31: 73-89. Peter Nicholson (1976) 'Philosophical Idealism and International Politics: A Reply to Dr. Savigear', British Journal of International Studies 2: 261-80. J.R. Gibbins (1992) 'Liberalism, Nationalism and the British Idealists', History of European Ideas 15: 491-7.
38. Henry Sidgwick (1962) The Methods of Ethics, 7th edition, p. 251. London: Macmillan.
39. Henry Sidgwick, 'Public Morality', in H. Sidgwick (1998) Practical Ethics: A Collection of Addresses and Essays (with an Introduction by Sissela Bok), pp. 31-46, pp. 36-7. Oxford: Oxford University Press (originally published 1898).
40. Emphasis added.
41. Henry Sidgwick (1919) The Elements of Politics, 4th edn, pp. 298-9. London: Macmillan.
42. Emphasis added. Ibid. pp. 308-9.
43. Emphasis added. Ibid. p. 309.
44. Ibid. pp. 314-15. For a thorough and critical treatment of Sidgwick's attitude towards colonies, imperialism and race, and of his Eurocentrism, see Bart Schultz, 'Sidgwick's Racism', in Schultz and Varouxakis (n. 25). Bart Schultz (2004) Henry Sidgwick: Eye of the Universe - An Intellectual Biography, pp. 605-68. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
45. Cf. Jeremy Bentham, 'Emancipate Your Colonies', (1793), in J. Bentham (2002) Rights, Representation, and Reform: Nonsense Upon Stilts and Other Writings on the French Revolution (The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham), ed. P. Schofield, C. Pease-Watkin and C. Blamires, pp. 289-315. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Stephen Conway (1989) 'Bentham on Peace and War', Utilitas 1: 82-101, p. 93. Varouxakis (n. 2), pp. 33-7 and passim.
46. As Ritchie put it: He [Sidgwick] nowhere arrives at any conclusion which would differ very widely from that of the average man of the professional and commercial middle-class at the present day. The method is Bentham'; but there is none of Bentham's strong critical antagonism to the institutions of his time... Quoted in Schultz (n. 44), p. 561. Sidgwick was a supporter of 'nationalities struggling for freedom' and an enthusiastic admirer of Mazzini, though he (as the brother-in-law of Arthur Balfour) did not extend this support to the Irish - he was against home rule and indeed led the Unionist dons at Cambridge. See Christopher Harvie (1976) The Lights of Liberalism: University Liberals and the Challenge of Democracy 1860-86, pp. 101, 219-20, 221, 225-6, 237. London: Allen Lane.
47. Duncan S.A. Bell (2005) 'Unity and Difference: John Robert Seeley and the Political Theology of International Relations', Review of International Studies (forthcoming). On Seeley see also H.S. Jones's contribution to this volume.
48. Emphasis added. Charles H. Pearson (1893) National Life and Character: A Forecast, pp. 223-6. London: Macmillan.
49. Emphasis added. Ibid. pp. 225-6.
50. Emphasis added. Frederic Harrison (1880) 'Empire and Humanity', in F. Harrison (1908) National and Social Problems, pp. 237-57, p. 247. New York: Macmillan.
51. Ibid. pp. 247-8.
52. Emphasis (both times) added. Frederic Harrison (1896) 'The True Cosmopolis', in F. Harrison (1906) Memories and Thoughts: Men - Books - Cities - Art, pp. 202-18, p. 205. London: Macmillan Co.
53. Emphasis added.
54. Harrison (n. 52), pp. 210-11.
55. Frederic Harrison (1898a) 'A Word for England', in Harrison (n. 52), pp. 260-5. (1898b) 'On a Scotch Reply', ibid. pp. 266-71. (1898c) 'The Scottish Petition to the Queen', ibid. pp. 272-7.
56. Emphasis added. Frederic Harrison (1866) 'England and France', in F. Harrison (ed.) International Policy: Essays on the Foreign Relations of England, pp. 124-5. London: Chapman & Hall.
57. Cf. John M[ackinnon] Robertson (1998) Patriotism and Empire, ed. Peter Cain. London: Routledge/Thoemmes Press (originally published 1899). J.A. Hobson (1901) The Psychology of Jingoism. London: Grant Richards. J.A. Hobson (1902) Imperialism: A Study. New York: J. Pott & Co. On some of the 'intellectual liberals' who were 'dissenters from "greatness"" (Morley, J.M. Robertson, L.T. Hobhouse, J.A. Hobson et al.) at the time of the Boer War and afterwards see J.H. Grainger (1986) Patriotisms: Britain 1900-1939, pp. 140-66 and passim. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
58. See Schultz (2004, in n. 44), pp. 670-2. Harvie (n. 46), p. 237.
59. Frederic Harrison (Dec. 1899) 'The Boer War', in Harrison (n. 50), pp. 219-22, p. 222. New York: Macmillan.
60. Harrison (n. 52), p. 210.
61. Pheng Cheah and Bruce Robbins (eds) (1998) Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling beyond the Nation, p. vii. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
62. See, for instance: Samuel Scheffler (1999) 'Conceptions of Cosmopolitanism', Utilitas 11: 255-76. Also, Steven Vertovec and Robin Cohen (eds) (2002) Conceiving Cosmopolitanism: Theory, Context, and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
63. See e.g. Pearson (n. 48), pp. 220-2. Harrison (n. 52), pp. 210-11. Harrison (n. 50), p. 222. F.D. Maurice (1893) Social Morality, a new edn, pp. 15, 105-7, 205-6. London: Macmillan.
64. Cheah and Robbins (n. 61), p. 1.
65. See e.g. Harrison (n. 50), p. 256.
66. Maurice (n. 63), pp. 15-17. See also Bell (n. 47). Arnoldian Liberal Anglicans and Comtists (including Harrison) had been spending a lot of time together in Oxford societies in the 1850s of course: See Christopher Kent (1978) Brains and Numbers: Elitism, Comtism, and Democracy in Mid-Victorian England, pp. 21-3. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. And a major influence on Harrison had been the Liberal Anglican Benjamin Jowett - on the convergences and relations between Arnoldians and Comtists see H.S. Jones (2000) Victorian Political Thought, pp. 82-3. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
67. Harrison (n. 56), p. 92.
68. Ibid., pp. 92-3.
69. Harrison (n. 52), pp. 210-11.
70. Harrison (n. 50), p. 240; (n. 52), pp. 205, 210.
71. Harrison (n. 52), pp. 260, 263.
72. Ibid. p. 277.
73. Ibid. p. 266.
74. Emphasis added. Ibid. p. 266.
75. Ibid. pp. 263-5.
76. Pearson (n. 48), p. 187.
77. See Maurizio Viroli (1995) For Love of Country: An Essay on Patriotism and Nationalism. Oxford: Clarendon Press. For an apposite critique of Viroli's thesis see: Erica Benner (1997) 'Nationality without Nationalism', Journal of Political Ideologies 2: 189-206. Cf. also Varouxakis (n. 2), pp. 26-37.
78. Conor Cruise O'Brien (1988) 'Nationalism and the French Revolution', in Geoffrey Best (ed.) The Permanent Revolution: The French Revolution and its Legacy, 1789-1989, p. 18. London: Fontana Press.
79. Jones (n. 66), p. 49. See also Jones's article in this volume.
80. Harrison (n. 50), p. 248.
81. Cf. Hugh Cunningham (1989) 'The Language of Patriotism', in Raphael Samuel (ed.) Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, 3 vols, vol. 1, pp. 57-89. London: Routledge. For recent work on the 20th century see Julia Stapleton (2005) 'Citizenship versus Patriotism in Twentieth-Century England', The Historical Journal 48: 1-28.
82. H.S. Jones, 'The Idea of the National in Victorian Political Thought', in this volume.
83. Georgios Varouxakis (2001) 'Patriotism' in A.S. Leoussi (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Nationalism, pp. 239-42. New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction Publishers.