The one and many faces of cosmopolitanism

Abstract

International ‘realist’ and communitarian critics of a cosmopolitan ethical perspective target its moral idealism, rootless rationality, and brutish imperialistic proclivities. Contrary to these images, a cosmopolitan ethical perspective, rightly understood, is realistic in its recognition of a common human condition marked by frailty and fallibility, faithful not only to the one but also to the many faces of humanity, and tolerant in its nonviolent promotion of ethical understanding. Cosmopolitanism constitutes and ethical primer coat of sorts; it is not the be-all and end-all of moral life, but without it, our most noble and well-meaning moral masterpieces will peel and crumble.