Abstract

In 1970 Dolf Sternberger created the notion of »constitutional patriotism« to signify a certain German patriotism as engagement for democracy and right in a country separated in two parts. Jürgen Habermas accepted the notion in order to acknowledge the liberal institutions of post-war Germany and its realization of universal principals of right. But the concept has a certain parallel in the discussion between Th. Abbt and F. C. von Moser in the years 1761 to 1765 when the unity of the German Empire was endangered and patriotism could only mean the pleading for a legal order beyond political absolutism.