Oisin Keohane

The idea of national philosophy carries in it a strange contradiction. We talk about 'German philosophy' or 'American philosophy'. But philosophy has always pictured itself to be the project of universality. It presents itself as something that takes place outside or beyond the national ultimately detachable from language, culture and history. So why do we assign nationalities to philosophies? Building on Jacques Derrida's unpublished seminars on philosophical nationalism, Oisn Keohane claims that national philosophies are a variant of some form of cosmo-nationalism: a strain of nationalism that uses, rather than opposes, ideas in cosmopolitanism to advance the aims of one nation.

Interrogates the rise of national philosophies and their impact on cosmopolitanism and nationalismThe idea of national philosophy carries in it a strange contradiction. We talk about 'German philosophy' or 'American philosophy'. But philosophy has always pictured itself to be the project of universality. It presents itself as something that takes place outside or beyond the national detachable from language, culture and history.So why do we assign nationalities to philosophies? Building on Jacques Derrida's unpublished seminars on philosophical nationalism, Oisin Keohane claims that national philosophies are a variant of some form of cosmo-nationalism: a strain of nationalism that uses, rather than opposes, ideas in cosmopolitanism to advance the aims of one nation.Key FeaturesOpens up new exciting areas of exploration between nationalism and cosmopolitanism through the concept of the cosmo-nationalExamines Derrida's unpublished seminars on philosophical nationalism, showing him to be much more interested in the intersection of philosophy and the social sciences than previously thoughtExplores three cases: German Philosophy through Kant and Fichte, French Philosophy through Tocqueville and American Philosophy through Emerson