What is a nation? Krausism and Spanish Nationalism in 1882

The work of Fernando Gasset Lacasaña

Abstract

Fernando Gasset Lacasaña is a forgotten Spanish republican, author of an equally forgotten work on the idea of nation, published in 1883. That work, developed under the influence of the Spanish branch of Krausist philosphy, is an interesting rflexion on the way these authors defended their definition of Spanish Nation. This article seeks to offer a new perspective on that nationalist thought, using Gasset as a study case. Far from being an exemple of civic nation, the idea defended by the Spanish Krausist was that of an ethnocultural one.Besides here is offered a new vision of the limited place that the region and regionalism could have inside of a Spanish nationalist political proposal.