Moral Cosmopolitanism Research Articles

Thinking citizenship through lived experiences of highly skilled migrants in Budapest

This study aims to understand and explain the concept of citizenship by analyzing the lived experiences of highly skilled migrants reflecting on their everyday transnational lives in the urban setting of Budapest. Based on the discourse analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews conducted in Budapest in the Fall of 2022, the study thinks through lived citizenship experiences to understand how and why these experiences matter for the formation of subjective citizenship understanding. This study suggests that the concept of lived citizenship embodies a complex narrative of everyday socio-economic, socio-cultural, and emotional experiences that go beyond what the legal status depicts. Citizenship experiences of highly skilled migrants present a process of negotiating cultural and moral cosmopolitanism with constructive patriotism in everyday lives in the urban context. The study advances the thinking on the foundation, manifestations, and operationalization of lived citizenship as experiences of belonging and coexistence, presenting a unique contribution to the production of knowledge on highly skilled migration in Hungary. This article proposes that citizenship entails a complex relational dimension and includes a life-long learning process with continual meaning-making through life experiences that transcends the consequences of the legal status within a given nation-state.

The Impact of Geography on the Success of Prosocial Crowdfunding

ABSTRACT Prosocial crowdfunding is gaining popularity as an alternative tool to traditional offline charity. While the success of crowdfunding projects aimed at pursuing commercial gains has been studied extensively, less research has addressed the factors that affect the success of prosocial crowdfunding campaigns. More specifically, there is even less research related to geographical factors. Building on charitable giving literature, we employ the lens of moral cosmopolitanism to hypothesize how geographical factors impact the success of prosocial crowdfunding campaigns. We conducted our investigation on a sample of 350 campaigns launched on StartSomeGood and found that contributors, despite a hype on cosmopolitan responsibility induced by digital platforms, prefer recipients in developed countries and, when donating to recipients in developing countries, show a preference for initiators from developed countries.

For the Good of the Globe: Moral Reasons for States to Mitigate Global Catastrophic Biological Risks.

Actions to prepare for and prevent pandemics are a common topic for bioethical analysis. However, little attention has been paid to global catastrophic biological risks more broadly, including pandemics with artificial origins, the creation of agents for biological warfare, and harmful outcomes of human genome editing. What's more, international policy discussions often focus on economic arguments for state action, ignoring a key potential set of reasons for states to mitigate global catastrophic biological risks: moral reasons. In this paper, I frame the mitigation of such risks as a global public good, and I explore three possible categories of moral reasons that might motivate states to provide this global public good: nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and interstate obligations. Whilst there are strong objections to moral nationalism as a reason for states to act, moral cosmopolitanism may provide a broad reason which is further supplemented for individual states through the elaboration of interstate moral obligations. The obligations I consider are moral leadership, fairness, and reciprocity. Moral reasons for individual states action may more effectively or more appropriately motivate states to mitigate global catastrophic biological risks.

Educating for a Cosmopolitan Ethos in Education: Adapting Expectations to Reality

Cosmopolitanism is an ancient Greek notion which in modern times has found its way into educational practice. It expresses a moral responsibility toward everyone irrespective of cultural background, looks or ability. However, it is an ideology difficult to operationalise and convey in education if the objective is to change learners’ attitudes for the future benefit of mankind. There are several obstacles standing in the way such as concurrent but incompatible value systems, the rise of individual empowerment for global economic growth and most important perhaps, the evolutionary basis of human nature. It is, for example, not possible to encourage competitive behaviour and simultaneously aim at imparting moral values. It is difficult to effectively teach a cosmopolitan mindset, but this is not to say that we should not try. Drawing from the research of multiple disciplines the conclusion of this article is inevitably paradoxical. While the effort to strive for moral cosmopolitanism is a good one, it is also not a one that is entirely possible. We must adjust expectations rather than trying to find miraculous methods by which to enable a better World through general tolerance and acceptance everywhere. Sadly, the latter is not possible. We can at best expect to have a local impact made possible by dialogue.

Thomas Nagel’s Theory of Justice

Theories of justice have become the central theme of liberal philosophy over the past century. Among these, one devoted to the problem of global justice, which has come to be particularly relevant at the turn of the century, deserves particular attention. Among liberal theories of global justice numerous competing conceptions have emerged; they could be presented as three broad lines of argumentation: ‘moral cosmopolitanism’, ‘political cosmopolitanism’ and ‘statism’. Thomas Nagel’s Hobbesian conception of global justice has become one of the most influential ‘statist’ theories. Having used the key points of Hobbes’ theory, Nagel significantly modified his original ideas. This allowed him, first, to invoke the principles of egalitarian justice at the level of the state and, second, to argue that international relations are not the territory of a moral vacuum. These modifications led to a two-level theory of ethics in which justice can exist only in separate sovereign states while the requirements of minimal humanitarian morality apply at the supranational level. As a result, Nagel’s theory of justice at the level of the state proved to be highly logical and persuasive, as well as able to withstand criticism from its opponents; whereas the requirements of minimal humanitarian morality seemed inconsistent and unrelated to justice in separate sovereign states. This has led to an ambivalent attitude towards Nagel’s theory. This article focuses on Nagel’s theory of global justice and the debate surrounding his statist arguments. This article also offers further criticism of the problems and prospects of Nagel’s theory of global justice.

Gandhi’s Compassionate Cosmopolitan Ethics and Global Poverty

In the post-Rawlsian world many liberal cosmopolitan philosopher and theorists have been trying to argue that love, emotion, sentiments and empathy are needed to ensure justice in this broken world. Some of them like Martha Nussbaum, Graham Long etc. have attempted to theorise on Emotion and sentiments within cosmopolitan traditions. I argue that empathy, love and sentiments are European ideas and sometimes become problematic for the reason that they do not get out of the problems of “binaries”----primarily the binary of the self and others. In my view, liberal cosmopolitans have failed to understand the ontological and metaphysical significance of the non-duality which was central to the Gandhi’s understanding of cosmopolitanism. In Gandhi’s theory of cosmology there is no difference between the self and other, they are not placed in tension with each other rather they complement each other and are essentially interdependent. This article humbly attempts to explore the possibilities of an alternative conception of cosmopolitanism based on universal morality through Gandhi’s idea of non-violence and compassion. It probes into the possibility of universal morality of Ahimsa (non- violence) and Karuna (compassion) and argues that it is not plausible to think of it without any metaphysical supposition that we all have the same Atman. It also examines and criticizes the Western notion of cosmopolitan morality based on human fellowship without any metaphysical principle. Unlike moral cosmopolitanism, compassionate cosmopolitanism does not focus primarily on the duty rather it goes deeply into understanding the human nature and virtue--what kind of person we are and how we feel about other fellow human? It enquires into the kind of emotional attachment exists or required between fellow humans.

A Kantian Moral Cosmopolitan Approach to Teaching Professional Legal Ethics

AbstractThis article argues that given the globalization of legal education and legal services, professional legal ethics should incorporate not only a cosmopolitan dimension but also sentiments such as compassion, respect, and sensitivity for human suffering. Inspired by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and his theory of education, this article seeks to address some of the limitations of the professional codes of conduct for barristers and solicitors, in England and Wales, by applying a moral cosmopolitan approach to the teaching of professional legal ethics. This normative approach is underscored by a commitment to moral duties to persons irrespective of their nationality, gender, religion, or any other defining characteristic. These duties include promoting client autonomy and engaging in law reform. This article also argues that Clinical Legal Education programs are an appropriate methodology for teaching moral cosmopolitan ethics.

Moral Cosmopolitanism and the Challenge of Global Terrorism

The world is bedevilled by terrorism. Of the most recent treats and challenges that the world faces there seem to be none bigger than terrorism. There is hardly a week that passes when you do not hear of terrorist attacks in one place of the order. Terrorist attacks have been perpetuated in places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, and Pakistan, the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Italy and so forth. The effects and impact of terrorism are incalculable. Thousands of lives and properties have been lost to terrorism. If terrorism is not mitigated or stopped it has the capacity to plunge the world into a new dark age. The paper examines the reality, effects, and causes of terrorism. It uses critical analytic and evaluative methods to examine terrorism from the lens of moral cosmopolitanism. The paper proposes that the idea of moral cosmopolitanism that affirms the common humanity of all humans and obligates each human to come to the help of others, even strangers can help to combat global terrorism. The paper finds that there is need to educate, conscientize, and persuade global terrorists with the value of moral cosmopolitanism. If this can be done it will greatly help in mitigating global terrorist attacks.

Moral cosmopolitanism, civic action and ethical consumption: Social differences in young Australians’ global citizenship

The relationship between global citizenship identity and actions remains an unsettled issue. In this article we use the PISA 2018 survey to explore whether global citizenship identity is associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in ‘globally minded’ practices among young Australians. Descriptive analysis reveals that self-reported global citizenship identity is associated with higher levels of moral cosmopolitanism, more so than with greater intercultural values or with more positive attitudes to immigrants. However, this self-declared identity does not necessarily translate into cosmopolitan action. Statistical modelling shows that, in the Australian context, global citizenship knowledge, values and identity account for a limited proportion of differences in self-reported cosmopolitan action. We argue that a sociological theory of practice helps explain these results. We conclude by highlighting future research opportunities to better understand the social determinants of global citizenship practices, including by exploring out-of-school socialisation and a broader range of cosmopolitan practices.

The Coronavirus Pandemic: The Growing Relevance of Moral Cosmopolitan Justice?

The essay attempts to conceptualise the adverse repercussions of coronavirus in an unequal global order. The changing security regime has intensified the increased probabilities of potential non-conventional threats. The coronavirus has uncovered the unpleasant realities of the socio-economic and political structure of the global north encountering financial crises and lack of health care resources. Contradictorily, the Pandemic has pushed the developing countries into the realm of extreme poverty, destroyed their minimum living conditions with the marginal provision of financial assistance. The contemporary unequal scenario exposed the unequal treatment for different social and economic classes questioning the neo-liberal policy discourse. Therefore, the central theme of the essay is to understand the multidimensional underpinnings of the health crises and global inequality upholding the relevance of cosmopolitan justice, adopting an analytical and deductive methodology of driving conclusions from general premises.

How children and adults challenge each other’s performances of everyday cosmopolitanism

ABSTRACT Based on in-depth interviews with children aged 11–14, and their parents and teachers, this article discusses the various ways in which children and adults claim to value ethnic diversity, and how they challenge each other’s understandings of racism and performances of everyday cosmopolitanism. We illustrate how certain speech norms emerge during the interviews, and how especially adults seem to perform their cultural openness in such a way as to be perceived favourably. We distinguish between three different types of cosmopolitanism. While parents mainly perform “cultural cosmopolitanism” – that is representing themselves as open towards those with other cultural backgrounds – their children display “social cosmopolitanism”, which is grounded in their everyday social interactions. Teachers, in turn, seem to be especially concerned with performing “moral cosmopolitanism”, demonstrating social engagement and non-racism.

Cosmopolitan morality trades off in-group for the world, separating benefits and protection

Global cooperation rests on popular endorsement of cosmopolitan values-putting all humanity equal to or ahead of conationals. Despite being comparative judgments that may trade off, even sacrifice, the in-group's interests for the rest of the world, moral cosmopolitanism finds support in large, nationally representative surveys from Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Japan, the United States, Colombia, and Guatemala. A series of studies probe this trading off of the in-group's interests against the world's interests. Respondents everywhere distinguish preventing harm to foreign citizens, which almost all support, from redistributing resources, which only about half support. These two dimensions of moral cosmopolitanism, equitable security (preventing harm) and equitable benefits (redistributing resources), predict attitudes toward contested international policies, actual charitable donations, and preferences for mask and vaccine allocations in the COVID-19 response. The dimensions do not reflect several demographic variables and only weakly reflect political ideology. Moral cosmopolitanism also differs from related psychological constructs such as group identity. Finally, to understand the underlying thought structures, natural language processing reveals cognitive associations underlying moral cosmopolitanism (e.g., world, both) versus the alternative, parochial moral mindset (e.g., USA, first). Making these global or local terms accessible introduces an effective intervention that at least temporarily leads more people to behave like moral cosmopolitans.

The EU's role in income redistribution and insurance: Support, norm‐setter or provider? A review of justice‐based arguments

AbstractIncome redistribution and insurance are core functions of welfare states. What role should the EU play in this domain? I examine the purchase of normative theorizing on social justice on this question, focusing on the contrast between three models of EU involvement: the EU as Support, which implies the sharing of resources through intergovernmental transfers; the EU as Provider, which implies EU cross‐border transfers towards individual citizens; the EU as Norm‐setter, which implies that the EU formulates normative policy ideals. I review different accounts of justice for the EU and how they bear on the choice between these models of EU involvement. Conceptions of “background justice” have some purchase in a debate on the EU's role, but that purchase is limited. They need to be complemented by shared conceptions of domestic justice and a degree of moral cosmopolitanism. I argue that a “European Social Union” should be a Support and Norm‐setter in the realm of insurance and redistribution. Through the establishment of interstate insurance, it would be a true “insurance union.” It would engage in interstate redistribution, but there are no compelling reasons of justice for it to become a direct Provider of insurance or redistribution towards individual citizens.

Citizen Hyde: Cosmopolitan Contradictions in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

As the British empire slowly crumbled at the end of the nineteenth century, London was inundated with countless new residents, raising paranoia about crime that was presumed to originate with newcomers to the city who lived outside the presumed social mores of English gentlemen. Robert Louis Stevenson capitalized on this atmosphere to craft a notorious literary scoundrel for the city, the titular figure(s) in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In this paper, I adapt Craig Morehead’s argument that Victorian “writers used cosmopolitan criminality to strengthen social cohesion and codify an idea of ‘Englishness,’ as well as to exaggerate and institutionalize the criminal threats of outsiders (broadly based on criminal identity),” in order to argue here that multiple and concurrent definitions of functional cosmopolitanism clash with Edward Hyde’s degenerate criminality, resulting in an unspoken but generative (if temporary) moral cosmopolitanism with a gothic flavor.

¿El fin de la hospitalidad? Los conceptos sociales fundamentales de la hospitalidad

La Sociología y la Filosofía se han convertido en una de las premisas fundamentales para la investigación en hospitalidad. El objetivo principal de este artículo es la internacionalización del campo de la hospitalidad, en particular con el enfoque de la Escuela Francesa de pensamiento humano. La metodología se basa en un debate epistemológico sobre los conceptos fundamentales de la hospitalidad pública en el contexto migratorio contemporáneo. La obligación de acoger al otro como una acción de cosmopolitismo moral y una actitud altruista zozobra en la contemporaneidad. La llamada crisis migratoria de nuestro tiempo es, en tales circunstancias, una crisis de hospitalidad.

Climate Change Cosmopolitanism

If one nation damages another, what are its obligations? This question can be approached and understood in diverse ways, but it is concretized in debates over the social cost of carbon, which is sometimes described as the linchpin of national climate policy. The social cost of carbon, meant to capture the damage done by a ton of carbon emissions, helps to determine the stringency of regulations in many domains, including emissions limits on motor vehicles and on stationary sources. In determining the social cost of carbon, agencies must decide whether to use the global number (as chosen by Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden) or instead the domestic number (as chosen by President Donald Trump). Use of the global number should be seen as a form of climate change cosmopolitanism, whether the grounding is moral or otherwise. There are four central arguments in favor of using the global figure. (1) The epistemic argument: Experts do not know a great deal about the purely domestic harms from climate change, which makes it impossible to generate a purely domestic number. (2) The interconnectedness argument: Harms done by domestic emissions are not limited to those done by the incremental increase in temperatures in the United States; they include harms to U.S. citizens living abroad and harms to U.S. citizens and interests that come from the cascading effects of harm done to foreigners (including governments, companies, and individuals), which are ultimately felt in the United States. (3) The moral cosmopolitan argument: In deciding on the scope of its regulations, the United States should account of the harms it does to non-Americans. (4) The prisoner’s dilemma argument: If all nations used a domestic figure, all nations would lose; a successful approach to the climate problem requires nations to treat greenhouse gas emissions as a global, and not merely domestic, externality. Neither the epistemic argument nor the incompleteness argument justifies choice of the global number. The moral cosmopolitan and prisoner’s dilemma arguments stand on much stronger grounds.

Cosmopolitanism and Universal Law

There are various kinds of cosmopolitanism. Moral cosmopolitanism can influence so much law and politics. Conversely, legal cosmopolitanism centers on the legal rights and obligations of the individual as subject of a global legal order. By accepting the fact that states will not give up their sovereignty and acknowledging that individuals should have a minimum set of guarantees protected by law regardless of their individual circumstances, the paper argues for positive law cosmopolitanism. States could retain their sovereignty and, at the same time, individuals would enjoy a minimum set of legal guarantees recognized beyond jurisdictional differences.

Kosmopolityczny monizm versus kosmopolityczny pluralizm: cynicyzm i stoicyzm – dwa filary moralnego kosmopolityzmu

Przedmiot badań. Na przełomie XX i XXI w. kosmopolityzm stał się przedmiotem intensyw­nych badań. Jednym z kluczowych zagadnień będących przedmiotem zainteresowania jest pro­blematyka relacji pomiędzy narodową a kosmopolityczną tożsamością.
 Cel badawczy. Celem prowadzonego badania jest porównanie dwóch modeli kosmopolityzmu, dla których relacja ta stanowi centralny punkt odniesienia. Za najbardziej charakterystyczne i jed­nocześnie najlepiej ilustrujące tę kwestię autor uznaje koncepcje moralnego kosmopolityzmu re­prezentowane z jednej strony przez greckich cyników, a z drugiej przez stoików.
 Metoda badawcza. Korzystając z metody historyczno-porównawczej i krytycznej, artykuł przedstawia dwie starożytne odpowiedzi na to kluczowe pytanie. Koncepcja cyników zawiera monistyczny, podczas gdy koncepcja stoików pluralistyczny model relacji między tożsamo­ścią narodową i kosmopolityczną. Zgodnie z cynickim podejściem monistycznym lojalność wobec uniwersalnych, kosmopolitycznych „praw cnoty” ma zawsze pierwszeństwo przed lojalnością wobec lokalnej lub narodowej wspólnoty, podczas gdy oparta na idei oikeiosis pluralistyczna koncepcja stoicka daje pierwszeństwo raczej tożsamości lokalnej i narodowej niż kosmopolitycznej.
 Wyniki. Porównanie tych dwóch hellenistycznych koncepcji prowadzi do wniosku, że nacecho­wana radykalnym etycznym naturalizmem monistyczna postawa cynicka, choć psychologicz­nie mniej wiarygodna niż stoicka, jest moralnie spójna i nie prowadzi cynika do etyczno-psy­chologicznego rozdarcia. Natomiast pluralistyczna postawa stoicka, mimo iż zdecydowanie bardziej wysublimowana i psychologicznie znacznie bardziej wiarygodna, może wprowadzać element wewnętrznego konfliktu pomiędzy lojalnością wobec państwa i lojalnością wobec „praw cnoty” rządzących wspólnotą kosmopolityczną. Podkreślając za cynikami wierność wobec uniwersalnych praw cnoty, stoicy pragną bowiem jednocześnie pozostać lojalni wobec własnego państwa.

Why cosmopolitan war is an ethics of fantasy?

Abstract This article argues that Fabre’s cosmopolitan war is implausible because it ignores the psychological realities of war. Building on J.L. Mackie’s notion of an ‘ethics of fantasy’ – a morality reduced to lip-service and incapable of action-guiding – I argue that a view based on a flawed view of either human agency or the context in which it is exercised is doomed to practical irrelevance. In rejecting patriotism and advancing a highly individualistic view of war, Fabre relies upon a highly flawed view of human agency, ignoring the psychological mechanism of depersonalisation essential to large-scale cooperation and the practice of war. In Part i, I offer an initial account of what an ‘ethics of fantasy’ is and offer one major reason why certain moralities fail as practical guidance. In Part ii, I contrast Fabre’s moral cosmopolitanism with ancient cosmopolitanism; I focus on her rejection of patriotism and other identity-based forms of partiality. In Part iii, I summarise key findings, mostly in social psychology, on how large-scale social cooperation is achieved. I highlight the central role of depersonalisation and its felicity conditions. In Part iv, I argue that Fabre’s view faces a dilemma. Either her cosmopolitanism is compatible with identity-based partiality, or it is not. If not, then she does not even have a view of war given that large-scale cooperation requires it. If her view is compatible, then she needs a functional replacement for patriotism. I conclude by showing that the alternatives fail to satisfy the felicity conditions of depersonalisation which war requires.

The Hero and the Victim: Narratives of Criminality in Iraq War Fiction

Hero and the Victim: Narratives of Criminality in Iraq War Fiction analyzes several works of literary fiction, and one popular memoir, by American authors about the U.S. military experience in the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011. In contrast to the emphasis of most ancient war literature on the figure of the warrior-as-hero, and the growing modern emphasis on the figure of the soldier-as-victim, Iraq War fiction reflects the troubled emergence of a new narrative template for war literature: the story of the ordinary soldier as a wrongdoer or even criminal. Iraq War fiction is haunted by depictions of moral injury and expressions of unresolved guilt. The dissertation argues that the emphasis on criminality in Iraq War fiction can be partly explained by the rise of moral cosmopolitanism and its blurring of the traditional conceptual lines between war and crime.