Cosmopolitanism and our Descriptions of Ethics and Ontology - A Response to Dale Snauwaert’s “The Ethics and Ontology of Cosmopolitanism” - David T. Hansen

Oct 15, 2026

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A response to Dale Snauwaert’s essay on the ethics and ontology of cosmopolitanism argues that “realism” often becomes a cynical posture rather than a viable moral-political orientation. The text defends a universal cosmopolitanism rooted in interconnectedness and a shared right to life, where education functions as self-transformation that can reshape conceptions of safety and security. It contrasts strong and rooted cosmopolitanism, engages Kant on virtue amid moral conflict, and frames cosmopolitan judgment as complex and requiring continual reconciliation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Cosmopolitanism and the ethics of shared humanity

Critique of political realism and the need for foundational social preparation

Universal cosmopolitanism, interconnectedness, and self-transformation through education

Strong vs. weak/rooted cosmopolitanism and the priority of universal norms

Virtue, moral conflict, and the role of judgment in ethical life

Justice, equity, and limits of focusing only on ethics and ontology

Cosmopolitanism and our Descriptions of Ethics and Ontology: A Response to Dale Snauwaert’s “The Ethics and Ontology of Cosmopolitanism” David T. Hansen Teachers College, Columbia University In recent years scholars across the humanities and social sciences have revitalized the ancient concept of cosmopolitanism. Dale Snauwaert illuminates why this is so in his thoughtful article on what it might mean to educate for a shared humanity. Snauwaert shows why many people find so-called “realism” an unsatisfactory political and moral orientation toward the world (also see Lu, 2000). States do have an obligation, if they are to be legitimate, to secure the safety of their citizens. But states have no privileged insight into how to develop such security. Indeed, history demonstrates time and again how benighted states have proven to be on this score. Moreover, a peaceful social and political order is not merely a matter of specific, state-based negotiations and treaties. It is as much a matter of carefully preparing the ground for a tolerant, pacific response to disagreement. Such ground-preparation is not undertaken by states as such but rather by a countless array of transnational institutions, communications, and exchanges between scientists, artists, educators, medical people, jurists, and more (cf. Waldron, 2006) . If divorced from these long-standing and real processes, so-called realism becomes merely a mode of cynicism, a pinched and hopeless outlook on the human condition. It is emphatically not our destiny to see the world in this way. Rather it is a choice to do so, and it is a choice which (as history also shows) often has the nightmarish consequence of becoming self-fulfilling. In contrast with so-called realism, Snauwaert argues for a universal cosmopolitanism. He highlights Gandhi’s notion of the interconnectedness of all life, or what might be called a shared right to life on the part of all living beings including persons. No individual or community has a greater right to life than others. Thus to kill in violence destroys not only others (literally) but also the perpetrator’s own humanity. All are reduced to mere things rather than beings with an inherent dignity. Snauwaert argues that these moral principles provide the ontological ground upon which to build a cosmopolitan ethics and politics. He contends that an awareness of and active respect for this ground emerges through self-transformation. Education becomes, at its center, the process of self-transformation on the part of people everywhere. In turn, that process presumably will lead people to demand that their states re-conceive the meaning of security and safety. Instead of envisioning the latter as requiring a bunkered, go-it-alone mentality, leaders of state and its various official institutions can themselves undergo modes of transformation in light of the principles of interconnectedness and of a shared, universal moral identity. Snauwaert’s discussion illuminates what has been called “strong” cosmopolitanism. This outlook spotlights universal values and norms. More than that, it suggests that such values and norms“take precedence over local and national political and moral values and principles”(Snauwaert, p. 1, italics added) . Martha Nussbaum, a leading theorist of strong cosmopolitanism, argues: © 2010 Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Current Issues in Comparative Education, Vol. 12(2): 41-44 D. Hansen …the accident of where one is born is just that, an accident; any human being might have been born in any nation…We may give what is near to us a special degree of attention and concern…[but] we should always remember that these features of placement are incidental and that our fundamental allegiance is to what is human (1997, pp. 31, 33) . This outlook can be contrasted with “weak,”“thin,” or what some have called “rooted”cosmopolitanism (Appiah 2005, 2006; Cohen, 19

FAQs

What does the response criticize about “realism” in cosmopolitan education?

It argues that realism can detach from the real, transnational processes that sustain tolerance and pacific disagreement, turning into cynicism and a self-fulfilling outlook rather than a grounded moral stance.

How does the response explain Snauwaert’s universal cosmopolitanism?

It emphasizes interconnectedness and a shared right to life, claiming that violence reduces both victims and perpetrators by treating them as things rather than beings with inherent dignity.

What distinguishes strong cosmopolitanism from rooted (weak/thin) cosmopolitanism?

Strong cosmopolitanism elevates universal values that take precedence over local and national norms, while rooted cosmopolitanism stresses moral obligations grounded in local traditions alongside genuine respect for universal human dignity.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo