Cosmopolitanism and the clash of civilizations

Insofar as human beings live in communities and small groups, the world is constructed around insiders and outsiders. While this is one inevitable source of conflict and violence, it is also the root of the ethics of hospitality. Cosmopolitanism, although in many respects a child of the Enlightenment, has a long history in human societies as hospitality toward the stranger. Its intellectual elaboration owes much to Kant and Hegel, but it flourished with globalization as an answer to growing social and cultural pluralism. However, in the contemporary world, the economic crisis of 2008–2011 has produced a political backlash against globalization and global elites in which populist parties have rejected migrants, cultural diversity, and social difference. The prospects for cosmopolitanism have been severely challenged. Can religious and legal universalism provide some defense of cosmopolitan virtue?

© 2019 selection and editorial matter, Laura Grindstaff, Ming-Cheng M. Lo, John R. Hall; individual chapters, the contributors