ABSTRACT
Nationalism is very much to the fore in contemporary European countries. One doctrine affirmed by nationalists is that individuals have special obligations to members of their nation. This doctrine thus stands opposed to an ideal of impartiality which insists that persons have the same obligations to everyone and should not favour their own. Most people would argue against the impartialist ideal that individuals have special obligations to members of their family or to their friends. This chapter discusses the National Obligation Thesis and distinguishes between two types of defence of special obligations: value-independent and value-dependent defences. It considers several value-independent defences of national obligations and then presents and defends an objection to value-independent defences of special obligations. The chapter examines several value-dependent defences of national obligations; it defends this approach to special obligations but argues that it does not justify national obligations.
