cosmopolitanism

cosmopolitanism, in political theory, the belief that all people are entitled to equal respect and consideration, no matter what their citizenship status or other affiliations happen to be.

Cosmopolitanism in Stoic philosophy

Early proponents of cosmopolitanism included the Cynic Diogenes and Stoics such as Cicero. Those thinkers rejected the idea that one should be importantly defined by one’s city of origin, as was typical of Greek males of the time. Rather, they insisted that they were “citizens of the world.”

Stoic philosophers opposed the traditional (Greek) distinction between Greeks and barbarians by applying to themselves the term cosmopolitans, thereby implying that their polis, or city-state, was the entire cosmos, or the whole world. Alexander the Great discouraged that distinction by allowing his generals to marry women native to the lands that they had conquered, but his policy met with resistance in the field and shock at home. The Stoics (from the 4th–3rd century bce) broke through the Greek assumption of their own racial and linguistic superiority and considered the new cosmopolitanism from a philosophical perspective.

The earlier Greeks had felt that it was a dictate of nature itself (or the providence of Zeus) that humanity had been divided into Greeks and barbarians. The Stoics argued, on the contrary, that all people share one common reason and are subject to the one divine logos and, therefore, the true Stoic sage is not a citizen of any one state but of the whole world.

The later Stoics implemented that idea by stressing acts of kindness even for defeated enemies and slaves. There were also exhortations to extend the characteristic Stoic love of self (oikeiōsis) in an ever-widening circle from self to family, to friends, and, at last, to humanity as a whole. Many historians have argued that this Stoic principle helped to prepare for the acceptance of Christianity, in which, according to St. Paul, the Apostle, there is neither Jew nor Greek, free nor slave, male nor female.

Epictetus, another of the later Stoics (1st–2nd century ce), reminded his followers that all men are by nature brothers and exhorted them to remember who they are and whom they rule, for the ruled too are kinsmen, brethren by nature, and all are children of Zeus.

Cosmopolitanism and the global community

The Stoics’ idea of being a citizen of the world neatly captures the two main aspects of cosmopolitanism, one of which is a thesis about identity and the other a thesis about responsibility. As a thesis about identity, being a cosmopolitan entails that one is a person who is influenced by a variety of cultures. Depending on attitudes to the various influences, the word cosmopolitanism can have negative or positive connotations. It has had positive connotations when, for instance, it has been thought to mean that a person is worldly and well-traveled rather than narrow-minded or provincial. It has had negative connotations when it has been used to stigmatize some groups, including Jews, as an alleged threat to the community. Cosmopolitanism as a thesis about identity also denies that membership in a particular cultural community is necessary for an individual to flourish in the world. According to that view, belonging to a particular culture is not an essential ingredient in the formation or maintenance of one’s identity, and one can pick and choose from a wide gamut of cultural expressions or reject all such expressions in favour of other noncultural options.

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As a thesis about responsibility, cosmopolitanism stands for the need to recognize and act on one’s membership in a global community of human beings. As such, one has responsibilities to other members of the global community. As the American philosopher Martha Nussbaum argued, one owes allegiance “to the worldwide community of human beings,” and that affiliation should constitute a primary allegiance. As a thesis about responsibility, cosmopolitanism also guides the individual outward from local obligations and prevents those obligations from crowding out responsibilities to distant others. Cosmopolitanism highlights the responsibilities one has to people one does not know. Accordingly, from a cosmopolitian perspective, the borders of states merely restrict the scope of justice and are irrelevant obstacles to appreciating and acting on one’s responsibilities to everyone in the global community.