Cosmopolitan Caring: On Reflexive Loyalty to the Known and Reflexive Openness to the New

Abstract

In the previous chapter, I developed a notion of rhythmic caring, which holds the potential to interrupt pedagogical encounters in such a way that the potentialities of teachers and students are evoked to come up with new and unforeseen possibilities within pedagogical encounters. As has been alluded to in the previous chapters, caring is not just a virtue that is practiced by humans in relation to other humans. Caring can also be linked to other acts of virtue that could contribute to harnessing a good society, most notably, empathy and cosmopolitanism. In this chapter, I consider the relationship between cosmopolitanism and caring and, in turn, proffer a defence of rhythmic caring. I argue that cosmopolitan caring is an instance of rhythmic caring, which holds the possibility for pedagogical encounters to become more enriching – that is, being reflexively loyal to what is known, and exhibiting a reflexive openness to what is still to come.