Cultural Cosmopolitanism and Civic Education

Abstract

In the last fifteen years, there has been a renewed interest among philosophers in exploring cosmopolitan ideals. In part, this is a response to theories that stress the value of a sense of belonging and the role of deep attachments to a national community as a source of moral and political obligations. Cosmopolitan views have a number of educational implications that are worth discussing, since they provide valuable insights relevant to the design of policy in an increasingly interconnected world. In general terms, cosmopolitanism can be described as a form of universalism that builds on the metaphor that all human beings are “citizens of the world.” As Pauline Kleingeld has pointed out, cosmopolitans agree that “all human beings share certain essential features that unite them or should unite them in a global order that transcends national borders.” But beyond this very general description, there does not seem to be a precise set of normative claims that unify all cosmopolitan positions. Some cosmopolitans are concerned with defending the view that all human beings belong to the same moral community, which grounds obligations of justice that transcend national origins. Others are interested in supporting the creation and development of common political or juridical institutions that would unite all human beings in a single political or juridical order. Still others cherish the existence of a rich variety of cultural forms in the world, seeing them as a common heritage for all humanity.