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Theme Changer

 Topic: The case for Cosmopolitanism

 (Read 1423 times)
  • 1« Previous thread | Next thread »
  • The case for Cosmopolitanism
     OP - February 23, 2012, 07:54 AM
    http://aje.me/zp5wLq

    Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah is a philosopher advocating a school of thought he calls 'cosmopolitanism'.

    It is an idea and way of being that the highest circles in Washington decided to recognise last week when the professor was awarded the National Humanities Award by Barack Obama, the US president.

    He tells Al Jazeera what cosmopolitanism means, describing it as: "A tradition of thought that tries to develop the metaphor of the idea that we are all citizens of the world."

    So, what does this mean for how one defines oneself in terms of race, religion, class or nationality? Are we heading towards the globalisation of culture? And, does the rise of the right in places like Europe signal that we are, in fact, moving backwards as some react against cosmopolitanism?

    In this interview with Al Jazeera's Sami Zeidan, Appiah offers answers to some of these questions and touches upon the theme of international intervention and the moral foundation for this.

    link
    "I'm standing here like an asshole holding my Charles Dickens"

    "No theory,No ready made system,no book that has ever been written to save the world. i cleave to no system.."-Bakunin
  • Re: The case for Cosmopolitanism
     Reply #1 - February 23, 2012, 11:32 AM
    Quote
    And, does the rise of the right in places like Europe signal that we are, in fact, moving backwards as some react against cosmopolitanism?


    Appiah has been highly critical of old school Left wing multiculturalism and identity politics in the past. In his view, it is this form of 'multiculturalism' that has betrayed cosmopolitanism as he defines it.

    "we can smell traitors and country haters"


    Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
    God is Love.
    Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.

  • Re: The case for Cosmopolitanism
     Reply #2 - February 23, 2012, 11:52 AM

    13 minutes 40 seconds onwards he talks a little about Islam in secularised societies, and the challenges it poses in terms of this. Its not something the interviewer seems attuned to in the first instance. He uses a phrase 'impregnable ignorance' to describe how Muslims living in non Muslim societies in the west view secular societies opinion of Islam, whilst not assenting to it himself, merely describing that viewpoint. There is a degree of politeness in this. 'Impregnable Ignorance' pretty much sums up Islam's attitude towards all non Islamic existence though. Appiah is very subtle and clever.

    "we can smell traitors and country haters"


    Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
    God is Love.
    Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.

  • Re: The case for Cosmopolitanism
     Reply #3 - February 23, 2012, 12:07 PM
    Quote from: billy on February 23, 2012, 11:32 AM
    Appiah has been highly critical of old school Left wing multiculturalism and identity politics in the past. In his view, it is this form of 'multiculturalism' that has betrayed cosmopolitanism as he defines it.




    Sorry i didnt get you,is there right wing multiculturalism if so, what is the difference?
    "I'm standing here like an asshole holding my Charles Dickens"

    "No theory,No ready made system,no book that has ever been written to save the world. i cleave to no system.."-Bakunin
  • Re: The case for Cosmopolitanism
     Reply #4 - February 23, 2012, 12:38 PM
    Quote
    Sorry i didnt get you,is there right wing multiculturalism if so, what is the difference?


    This partly explains how Appiah has issues with identity-politics multiculturalism which is associated with parts of the Left

    Quote
    In his far-reaching examination of multiculturalism, Kwame Anthony Appiah stresses the possibilities of maintaining a pluralistic culture of many identities and sub-cultures while retaining the civil and political practices that sustain national life in the classic sense. He begins with a discussion of what the word “culture” might mean, suggesting that “culture” and “identity” inevitably conflict in the emergence of the “individual.”

    He engages Charles Taylor’s proposal that sub-cultural identity should be a matter of state maintenance, problematizing certain contemporary methods of teaching multiculturalism, suggesting instead a more inclusive cultural education for a pluralistic society than is usually achieved by teaching culture only to those who belong to a particular community.

    Appiah warns against proscribing “correct” behavior to the life scripts of people whose difference—whether sexual, racial or national—has been constituted as part of their identity, since to do so would suggest the possibility of authentic and inauthentic life scripts and all the problems that attend like assumptions.

    Appiah concludes by suggesting that the possibilities of having a common set of institutions and a common culture in addition to the pluralistic identities of an open society is the difficult goal toward which we must strive.


    http://townsendcenter.berkeley.edu/op1.shtml
    "we can smell traitors and country haters"


    Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
    God is Love.
    Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.

  • Re: The case for Cosmopolitanism
     Reply #5 - February 23, 2012, 01:45 PM
    Ah, so in a nutshell he is implying that multiculturalism is whats hindering cosmopolitanism into becoming a reality.
    "I'm standing here like an asshole holding my Charles Dickens"

    "No theory,No ready made system,no book that has ever been written to save the world. i cleave to no system.."-Bakunin
  • Re: The case for Cosmopolitanism
     Reply #6 - February 23, 2012, 01:56 PM
    Some forms of identity-politics do that, yes.

    I think he's a very subtle and fair and balanced thinker about these issues.

    "we can smell traitors and country haters"


    Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
    God is Love.
    Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.

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