is patriots who put their country above all else, even their most precious loved ones, who sacrifice not only their own lives but those of their families to save their country. It is normally wrong to willingly put a loved one in a situation where he or she will certainly be killed. Patriots, however, are sacrificing one life for the lives of many; they are doing the "more" ethical thing. Thus, patriots never leave the realm of the ethical: their actions are governed by ethics, their purpose firmly within ethical bounds. They are not people of faith.
Examining the differences pointed out by Kierkegaard between his philosophy and that of Hegel's clarifies his ideas. According to Kierkegaard, "In Hegelian philosophy, [the outer (the ex
...