In brief, nationalism is a theory of political legitimacy, which requires the ethnic boundaries should not be cut across political ones, and, in part… - Ernest Gellner

" "

In brief, nationalism is a theory of political legitimacy, which requires the ethnic boundaries should not be cut across political ones, and, in particular, that ethnic boundaries within a given state — a contingency already formally excluded by the principle in its general formulation — should not separate the power holders from the rest.

English
Collect this quote

About Ernest Gellner

Ernest André Gellner (9 December 1925 – 5 November 1995) was a philosopher and social anthropologist, cited as one of the world's "most vigorous intellectuals."

Also Known As

Birth Name: Ernest André Gellner
Works in ChatGPT, Claude, or Any AI

Add semantic quote search to your AI assistant via MCP. One command setup.

Related quotes. More quotes will automatically load as you scroll down, or you can use the load more buttons.

Additional quotes by Ernest Gellner

Limited Time Offer

Premium members can get their quote collection automatically imported into their Quotewise collections.

The way forward does not lie in amateur and comically timeless linguistic sociology which takes ‘forms of life’ for granted (and this is what philosophy has been recently), but in the systematic study of forms of life which does not take them for granted at all. It hardly matters whether such an inquiry is called philosophy or sociology.

Loading...