Note: Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, who writes the New York Times column, “The Ethicist”, has just won (in the summer of 2024) the Library of Congress’ Kluge Prize. A high honor.
This program was broadcast on WCAI, an affiliate of WGBH, Boston.
In this interview from 2004, New York University Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses cosmopolitanism on ThoughtCast!
Born in England and raised in Ghana, Appiah is half English and half African. And perhaps because of this, he’s fascinated with the concept of identity, and the power it wields over people. But rather than wage identity politics, Appiah encourages us instead to be good global citizens, interested in and accepting of each other. In short, cosmopolitan. But also, at least a little bit “contaminated”… Appiah’s written a book on the subject: it’s called Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers.
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Two chapters from his book, “Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers,” were part of our reading assignment. It has been three months since I read those two chapters, and I have to say at first read I merely wanted to be done with the assignment to receive a good grade; however, those two chapters have become an obsession that has me questioning my very own identity. It is as though parts of this book have given me a revelation I must say is a feeling of surprise and awe. To sum it up, this book is one heck of an eye opener.