ABSTRACT
Most teachers probably believe that literature can teach their pupils something about life. Enabling young people to understand the distinction between nationalism and patriotism is an important aim in civic education. Nationalism is a defensive sentiment that defines itself in opposition to the outside world by excluding those who are said not to belong to a particular ethnic or cultural community. Patriotism is self-confident in respect of the outside world and capable of embracing all who are willing to be part of the community making up the nation. According to Oakeshott, experience offers itself in terms of five discrete and autonomous modes: the mode of practice or practical living and the modes of scientific, historical, philosophical and aesthetic experience. Oakeshott’s view of art has been subject to much criticism. The separatism that seeks to make delight the sole criterion of the aesthetic is inconsistent with a common conception of the relationship between literature and life, and indeed, truth.
