“Only the bored have need of illusions”
In an age of globalised economic development the legacy of Enlightenment theories of cosmopolitanism (moral, political and economic), founded on the Hellenistic notion of kosmopolitês (citizen of the world), have produced a number of moral and socio-political philosophies that continue to be a source of debate.
Moral cosmopolitanism suggests that there exists a sense that a community between human beings is due to a common grounding in human reason or rather universally shared characteristics. Others conceptualise the universal community in terms of political institutions to be shared by all (Kant also introduced the concept of “cosmopolitan law”); in terms of cultural expressions to be appreciated by all; or in terms of economic markets that should be open to all.
Debates over moral cosmopolitanism frequently lead into an inquiry into political cosmopolitanism and in more recent times this has evolved into a dispute over cultural cosmopolitanism and/or multiculturalism. The cosmopolitan position in both of these kinds of disputes rejects exclusive attachments to parochial culture.
Connectivity, and what Anthony Giddens calls “an intensification of world-wide social relations”, highlights the interactions between technology, culture and a politicised, non-literary, space. Modalities of cosmopolitanism are being merged. What new information flows are possible in this space, how, within it, do personal and communal exigencies relate to political praxis? How does the global film industry and new visual media increase the likelihood of the realisable cosmopolitan ideal? How does the emergent ‘cosmopolitan media’ relate to classical theories of cosmopolitanism and is the new form desirable?