Journal of Controversial Ideas

(ISSN: 2694-5991) Open Access Journal
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Controversial Ideas 2024, 4(2), 9; doi: 10.35995/c9288f2b1f

Enlightened Tribalism

Received: 3 Sep 2023 / Revised: 3 Jul 2024 / Accepted: 4 Jul 2024 / Published: 30 Oct 2024
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Abstract

Tribalism is often derided as a morally primitive form of human organization. But for most of human history, people organized themselves into tribes that facilitated collective action and provided their members with a sense of security and identity. In stark contrast, liberal cosmopolitans have promoted the ideal of the world community. They tend to diminish the moral importance of tribal attachments and instead claim that altruism should have a more universal scope. We argue that although tribalism can encourage needless conflict, it can also provide meaning, promote important virtues, and increase the long-run viability of human groups better than liberal cosmopolitanism. We call the view that we endorse “enlightened tribalism.” We end by identifying some of the problems tribalism can create, and distinguishing the kind of tribalism that leads groups of people to flourish from the kinds that lead to unnecessary suffering or self-destruction.
Keywords: Tribalism, Evolution, Cosmopolitanism, Biopolitical Philosophy, Sociobiology.
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CITE
Nobre Faria, F.; Anomaly, J.; Willy, C. Enlightened Tribalism. Controversial_Ideas 2024, 4, 9.
Nobre Faria F, Anomaly J, Willy C. Enlightened Tribalism. Journal of Controversial Ideas. 2024; 4(2):9.
Nobre Faria, Filipe; Anomaly, Jonathan; Willy, Craig. 2024. "Enlightened Tribalism." Controversial_Ideas 4, no. 2: 9.
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