victor frankl
Intro to Philosophy
2.) Patriotism can be thought of as love of one’s country. Describe love of country using Frankl’s notion of love. What practical obligations does Frankl’s definition of love demand for a patriotic citizen of a democratic nation?
Frankl says that love is realizing the potential of the beloved and therefore enabling them to manifest their potential. To love ones country, a patriotic individual needs to learn to look past what is and rather at what could and should be. Our founding fathers, at the time equipped with little to love, saw and loved the potential in this country, and by doing so enabled it to manifest that potential. “By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true” (Frankl). Without love, our country could not exist. To love one’s country, it is first necessary to perceive potential. Perhaps this is the most exciting part of being patriotic, because there is no true limit to this love. If you love your country for what it is, in ignorance of this potential, you are most certainly loving for the wrong reasons, or mistaking another feeling for love—perhaps respect. To have such optimism and see in your country what isn’t necessarily there can often be difficult for those are not exceedingly patriotic. With something such as a country, though, the power and future are in the hands of the people—namely those who have that love for the country that is a love of not only the country but of that which the country is capable of. “ …he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized” (Frankl). Loving one’s country, and it’s potential will in turn reflect one’s inner potential. This is in direct correlation to the country’s manifestation of said potential. If one that loves his country can recognize the capabilities of it’s
2.) Patriotism can be thought of as love of one’s country. Describe love of country using Frankl’s notion of love. What practical obligations does Frankl’s definition of love demand for a patriotic citizen of a democratic nation?
Frankl says that love is realizing the potential of the beloved and therefore enabling them to manifest their potential. To love ones country, a patriotic individual needs to learn to look past what is and rather at what could and should be. Our founding fathers, at the time equipped with little to love, saw and loved the potential in this country, and by doing so enabled it to manifest that potential. “By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true” (Frankl). Without love, our country could not exist. To love one’s country, it is first necessary to perceive potential. Perhaps this is the most exciting part of being patriotic, because there is no true limit to this love. If you love your country for what it is, in ignorance of this potential, you are most certainly loving for the wrong reasons, or mistaking another feeling for love—perhaps respect. To have such optimism and see in your country what isn’t necessarily there can often be difficult for those are not exceedingly patriotic. With something such as a country, though, the power and future are in the hands of the people—namely those who have that love for the country that is a love of not only the country but of that which the country is capable of. “ …he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized” (Frankl). Loving one’s country, and it’s potential will in turn reflect one’s inner potential. This is in direct correlation to the country’s manifestation of said potential. If one that loves his country can recognize the capabilities of it’s