Worries II: Reading workshop 2

A cosmopolitan ethic according to Kwame Anthony Appiah

This workshop proposes to provoke reflection on our research and teaching objects and methodologies based on a concern, that of a fragile living-together and cosmopolitanism which, as an ethical and political position, is going through difficult times, as suggested in particular by the volume Cosmopolitanism in Hard Times (Cicchelli and Mesure (eds.) 2020). Based on two works by the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, we will question his proposal for a cosmopolitan ethic, which is part of an attempt to "take into account who speaks, thinks and acts differently ", evoked in the seminar's argument. The philosopher's question can be summed up as follows: how can we lead a "successful ethical life" (Bessone 2006) whose scope extends beyond the community of our fellow citizens, without neglecting the latter? Drawing on an extract from Appiah's The Ethics of Identity (2005), we will first discuss his concept of " partial cosmopolitanism ", while the extract from For a New Cosmopolitanism (2008 [2006]) will allow us to look at the proposal to conduct " cross-border conversations " based not on agreements, but essentially on disagreements about the ways of living and doing that exist across the globe. The aim of the workshop is not only to engage in a discussion of these concepts, but also to mobilize them to discuss our teaching and research practices (for example : how do we evoke identity conflicts, " value conflicts " with our students ? what is a research object that is both " rooted " and " cosmopolitan " ?, etc.).

Bibliography

Appiah Kwame A. Pour un nouveau cosmopolitisme (trans. de l'anglais (États-Unis) par Agnès Botz), Paris, Odile Jacob, 2008 [2006].

-. The Ethics of Identity, Princeton University Press, 2005.

Bessone, Magali. "Lectures II", Critique internationale, 33(4), 2006, pp. 197-201.

Cicchelli Vincenzo and Mesure Sylvie (eds.). Cosmopolitanism in Hard Times, Leiden, Brill, 2020.