PATRIA, NAZIONE, STATO: DAI TERMINI AI CONCETTI1 PARTE I: SUL CONCETTO DI NAZIONE

The meaning of the terms “nation”, “fatherland”, “state” is undeniably plurivocal. The polysemy that characterizes it is marked by conceptual alternatives, such as to make the reference equivocal. Hence the need to distinguish meanings, drawing on theoretical formulations and institutional concretions. As for the nation, there are four unmistakable meanings: the realistic, the naturalistic, the voluntary and the historicistic one. As for the homeland, the classical notion is irreducible with respect to the modern one. The text, through a methodical problematization, overcomes the known bipartition (naturalism - voluntarism) referring to the nation and the identification of the political romanticism of the homeland. A new philosophical framework emerges from the semantics of both the nation and the homeland.