The next level in moral behavior higher than that exhibited by the baboon is that in which duty and loyalty are shown toward a group of your own kind too large for an individual to know all of them. We have a name for that. It is called 'patriotism.'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Patriotism is framed as a higher moral evolution where loyalty extends to large groups beyond personal acquaintance.
- In plain terms
- Loving your country is like extending loyalty to a large group you don't know personally.
- What can you take from it?
- Patriotism extends moral loyalty to the group.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is loyalty to a group always good?
- How large is too large?
Another view
This definition can justify harmful nationalism.
More from Robert A. Heinlein
Evolution is a process that never stops. Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behavior do not survive; they wind up as meat for leopards.
Permalink to quote #158 Behaving on a still higher moral level were the astronauts who went to the Moon, for their actions tend toward the survival of the entire race of mankind.
Permalink to quote #160 The next higher level is to work, fight, and sometimes die for your own immediate family. This is the level at which six pounds of mother cat can be so fierce …
Permalink to quote #157
Related quotes
As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. …
George OrwellGeorge Orwell quote #10 The highest treason in the USA is to say Americans are not loved, no matter where they are, no matter what they are doing there.
Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut quote #209 It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sa…
Rick SantorumRick Santorum quote #1