I have to admit that when I first started reading Cosmopolitanism by Kwame Anthony Appiah for this week I didn’t like it very much. I felt that many of his ideas were self-evident and I didn’t like the way in which he presented it. It did not seem like he was presenting a very novel concept. However, his examples grew to intrigue me, especially when he got on the topic of witchcraft. As the book progressed it grew on me, which I guess is good considering I am presenting on it this week. Appiah presents cosmopolitanism as “universality plus difference” because “this neglected and attractive tradition of thought deserves serious attention as a habitable middle ground between liberalism and relativism”. To Appiah, cosmopolitanism’s two main ideas are that 1) we have obligations to others that are bigger than just sharing citizenship, and 2) we should never take for granted the value of life and become informed of the practices and beliefs of others.
In The Examined Life film we watched earlier in the semester Appiah covers a lot of his same ideas as he does in the book. In his short, seven minute segment, he explained that humanity is faced with the challenge of how to learn to be responsible for other citizens in the world. We have obligations that stretch beyond our family and friends. Humans share a moral nature despite there being a conflict of values across cultures. However, we cannot be partial to the local group we associate ourselves with. Yet, simultaneously, we cannot abandon this tiny, local group. We simply need to be global citizens.
In Appiah’s book he delves further into those issues. Early on, he points out that people are different and there is a lot to learn from our differences. To me, this seems like common sense because we should never expect people coming from numerous backgrounds in society across the world to converge on a single way of life. I find that in the context of my day to day life there are conflicts in beliefs and values, especially in the classroom setting at UNCA. One of the aspects of education at UNCA that I truly respect is the openness in the classroom and how many of the professors push for more of a conversation-based learning environment rather than simply lecture their students. As a student, it helps me to see how varied the value and belief systems of the students and professors are here at UNCA. The exercise where we discussed the purpose and meaning of life on the first day of class is a perfect example of this. It is these types of activities that open my eyes to new ways of thinking. This is part of the reason why I respected and appreciate Appiah’s point that the objective to seek meaningful dialogue about values between and among cultures to avoid sinking to a stance of cultural relativism. We need to realize that humanity will not agree on a set of universal values. According to Appiah, agreement is not the ultimate goal.
One of the specific examples that stood out to me dealt with illness. Appiah explained that the Asante people seek to explain illness through their belief in witchcraft. Asante people rationalize this through the belief that there are people that dislike them. On the other hand, in Manhattan, people turn to science to explain their illness. They have a general conviction that their illness can be explained. So, the question is, do we have to choose between these interpretations? To this, Appiah says there is no simple answer. In a sense, I agree with him. However, personally, I tend to agree with the Manhattan mindset. That could be because of my upbringing and educational background with science.
Appiah later discusses values relativism, which I found interesting. People split values from facts about the world. A common response to alien values is to dismiss these values as primitive and irrational. This stems from a lack of understanding. Disagreement about values comes from a failure to share a vocabulary of evaluation, giving the same vocabulary different interpretations, and giving the same values different weights. Regardless, our focus should not be to resolve this disagreement. Rather, we can and should live together without agreeing on what our universal values should be. Appiah uses the issue of abortion to further explain his point about disagreement over values. People with different perspectives on the issue tend to be in agreement about the sanctity of life, yet they disagree about things such as when a life begins and why life is precious.
I would like to jump to a point farther along in the book, since I know I don’t have enough time to discuss the entire book, deals with cultural property. I agree with Appiah’s point that countries should not claim any works of historical significance belong to them because in a global culture, these works don’t belong to any single country or culture, but rather everyone. He raises the question, whose culture is it anyway? I found this interesting and had never thought of it this way before because in many of our humanities classes and classes in the past we have always associated these things with an area and I have always thought of these things as property of a particular culture or area. However, I realized that that does not have to be how it is.
I am now going to switch the focus of my blog though because I want to discuss this week’s tutoring session at I Have a Dream. In previous weeks I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the children, but I have found that each time I’ve come to look forward to it more and more. I worked with four children this week and it was extremely rewarding. When I finished two of the children each came up and gave me hugs. However, my experience with one of the kids stuck with me because of their exceptional interest in learning. Working on their homework was enjoyable; however, it was reading with them that stood out. The child asked so many questions throughout the short seven pages we had to read. At the end, they insisted on continuing to read, but we had run out of time. I was asked numerous questions ranging from “Is that really how someone would respond in that situation?” to “Have you ever been there?” The experience really gave me some insight into how this child thought. This experience is truly a gift and eye opening. After this week’s reading I also am more interested in learning about the variation in beliefs and values that people have, including those of the children at I Have a Dream.
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