Response to Noah Sobe’s “Rethinking'Cosmopolitanism' as an Analytic for the Comparative Study of Globalization and Education” - Two possibilities for what cosmopoltianisms can tell us

Oct 15, 2026

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Response explores how philosophy—especially cosmopolitanism—can function as a practical analytic for comparative education amid debates over its relevance to global affairs. Drawing on Noah Sobe’s argument, the text proposes two interpretive possibilities: cosmopolitanism as shaped less by pure reason than by morality, ethics, emotion, and religion; and cosmopolitanism’s impact on comparative methodologies that often treat school or nation-state as a static unit, overlooking transborder movements of knowledge, identities, and people.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

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Overview of the issue and philosophy’s role

Philosophy as an analytic activity in comparative education

Cosmopolitanism and education: Sobe’s focus

Danger and promise for comparative and international research

Two proposed possibilities

Reason, morality, ethics, and embodied cosmopolitan living

Methodological implications beyond static field sites

Key framing of Sobe’s contribution

Response to Noah Sobe’s “Rethinking‘Cosmopolitanism’ as an Analytic for the Comparative Study of Globalization and Education” Andria Wisler Georgetown University The Fall 2009 edition of Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE) (Volume 12, Issue 1) bridges the real and imagined distance between two all too often disparate fields within educational scholarship – philosophy and comparative education. The discipline of philosophy most fruitfully influences my own research pursuits in comparative education through its effects on my understanding of research and on my role as a researcher. Philosopher of education Robert Bullough (2006) lists educationalists who similarly have “turned toward the humanities for fresh questions and critical insights into established practices, trying to make better sense of what they were witnessing and experiencing as educators and scholars”(p. 5) . Terrence McLaughlin suggests that “a comparative approach to education needs a philosophical dimension and that the concerns and techniques of philosophy have an important contributory role to play in the development and flourishing of comparative education”(Halstead & McLaughlin, 2004, p. 467) . In re-reading the articles in this issue, I am reminded of the strengths and limits of philosophy in comparative education as well as some of the misconceptions that surround this intellectual discipline. An incredulity among some social scientists about philosophy’s relevance to global affairs and the human condition continues to marginalize philosophy in comparative education research. Thus, this issue contributes to philosophy being understood in Wittgensteinian fashion as an activity, rather than as a body of doctrine or ideology. In utilizing philosophy this way, the authors in this issue respond to Alasdair MacIntyre’s call to “confront questions that have so far gone unasked, just because they are not questions answerable from within any one discipline”(2006, p. 12) . The Fall 2009 issue of CICE shines a spotlight on the philosophy of cosmopolitanism and its relationship to education and comparative education. As contributor Noah Sobe concludes,“There is both danger and promise in cosmopolitanisms. And there is much more about cosmopolitanisms that comparative and international education research can tell us.” I would like to offer two possibilities for what cosmopoltianisms can tell us about comparative and international education research, as a springboard into my response inspired by Sobe’s article. First, from my perspective, rooted injustice and peace studies, I am intrigued by several authors’assessments of cosmopolitanism as a cognitive or reason-based framework. In other words, the cosmopolitan person will use reason to be autonomous, have self-responsibility, procure agency, plan life rationally, while respecting diversity and difference. I am not convinced that it is predominantly reason that drives the embodiment and enactment of a cosmopolitan mode of living. I am less persuaded of reason’s impact by observations of my students, whether they are in the fifth grade, in their fifth semester of college, or departing on their fifth humanitarian or peace work assignment to a conflict zone. Does the cosmopolitan person use reason to organize difference, to self-actualize, and to grapple with human agency? It seems that in many cases morality, ethics, emotional dissonance, and religion trump the call of reason as the normative framework directing action and inaction on global issues of poverty, educational development, or human rights. © 2010 Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Current Issues in Comparative Education, Vol. 12(2): 45-49 A. Wisler Second, and more directly in response to Sobe’s article, I am confident that cosmopolitanisms will continue to affect traditional methodological models of comparative education and other educational research that uphold a stat

FAQs

Why does the author emphasize philosophy’s value in comparative education?

The author argues philosophy influences research understanding and helps comparative education move beyond misconceptions that question philosophy’s relevance to global affairs and the human condition.

How does the author challenge the idea that reason primarily drives cosmopolitan living?

The author suggests that morality, ethics, emotional dissonance, and religion often outweigh purely reason-based frameworks when people act or refrain from action on global issues.

What methodological change does cosmopolitanism imply for comparative education research?

The author contends that cosmopolitanism should affect comparative methodologies by challenging static units of analysis like schools or nation-states and by better accounting for movement of knowledge, identities, and people across borders.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo