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Similarities Between Nationalism And The Scottish Enlightenment

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Recommended: Introduction to nationalism

Introduction The topic of nationalism and identity is often debated in society. Could identity be formed by race? Is being patriotic the same as having a national identity? This paper seeks to answer these questions by looking at the Scottish Enlightenment and how it was influential in shaping the development of nationalism. The Scottish Enlightenment The term Scottish Enlightenment was coined to describe the great flourishing of Scottish literature and ideas in the eighteen century ( (Towsey, 2010) . Trevor –Roper and Duncan Forbes described the Scottish enlightenment as an intellectual movement that evolves from the abrupt encounter of the backward Scotland with modern England. (Broadie, 2003) They may be justified in their thoughts because the Scottish enlightenment was indeed a movement; however that movement didn’t occur overnight. In the early seventeen century Scotland was mired with superstition and religious tolerance. …show more content…

The Scottish enlightenment was built on few thoughts and ideas; Smith viewed society as based on free trade and the division of labour. Similarly nationalism is also about freedom; freedom of choice by the people to identify or associate with what is happening in society. With division of labour the working class is controlled by the elites and so they are always the decision makers. In terms of nationalism and identity the elites are still also in charge of the society. Despite its similarity, it is clear to see that the debate of nationalism is forever evolving as does the society which we live in. There would be intellect who would challenge what we now know and maybe they themselves come up with different theories in regards to national identity. Is it individually fueled of as a nation? One thing is certain is that nationalism would forever be part of our ever growing

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