Unpacking Ideologies: Egalitarianism, Nationalism, Universalism

Finding truth in the isms (thumbnail) - Unpacking Ideologies: Reductionism, Empiricism

Transcript:

Egalitarianism. I think this one is pretty easy to point to the truth aspect of it, and that is that that there is a fundamental equality between people in that we were all made in God’s image or have a soul. Egalitarianism is a problem when we assume that there are no distinctions between people and it basically ignores all the differences between people.

Nationalism is true in that people really are tribal. It’s sort of like an extended egoism. Sort of like “I love myself and this is my nation so I love my nation more than other nations.” It’s a natural thing, so in that respect it’s true. I also think it’s sort of a necessary step towards a higher universalism. The problem is that it can lead to fascism and hatred of other nationalities.

Universalism is true in that people do share many common values, that some differences between people are socially constructed. Universalism is a problem when it basically forces some kind of surface-level multiculturalism that, again, does not distinguish differences between people, it does not recognize those differences, it just attempts to demolish them and it’s basically – it creates, strangely, a sort of imperialism because it forces one multicultural identity on everyone.

To be continued…

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