nationhood

bust of Voltaire by Houdon, 1781

The Enlightenment of the late eighteenth century structured many of our current patterns of thought, some obviously, some less so. One of the larger, more frequently discussed shifts, with regards to Western Europe, was a stronger focus on science, which meant a step away from a unified, organised religion. While reading Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities I engaged with his thoughts on this, though it was not his over-arching point and I am surely over-simplifying. Religion addressed many of the bigger questions for people, including the purpose of death. Without religion, this question remained. In its place the pluralism found in Nationalism was promoted, a new concept or cause to which one could devote one’s self, living and dying. He rightfully notes that Nationalism is a presupposed frame of reference now much as dynasties and religion were in the not-too-distant past.