What is the content of a meaningful cosmopolitan theory? Contemporary
cosmopolitanism offers numerous global theories of liberalism, democracy,
republicanism, and postmodernism, but is there anything of the “cosmos” or “polis”
within them? I argue these theories, though global, are not cosmopolitan. Ancient
Greek philosophy holds a more meaningful, substantive conception of cosmopolitanism.
From Homer to the Stoics and Cynics, ancient Greece was a hotbed for thinking beyond
the confines of local tradition and convention. These schools of thought ventured to find
universal understandings of humanity and political order. Conceiving of the world as a
beautiful order, a cosmos, they sought a beautiful order for the association of human
beings. Within that tradition is the unacknowledged legacy of Platonic
cosmopolitanism.
Rarely do political philosophers find cosmopolitan themes in the dialogues of
Plato. Correcting this omission, I argue that Plato’s dialogues, from the early through
the late, comprise a cosmopolitan journey: an attempt to construct a polis according to an
understanding of the cosmos. The early dialogues address questions of piety, justice, and righteous obedience. More than that, they inquire into why a good man, Socrates, is
persecuted in his city for nothing more than being a dutiful servant of the gods and his
city. The middle dialogues construct a true cosmopolis, a political association in
harmony with the natural laws of the world. Furthermore, they explain why those who
know how to construct such a polis live best in such arrangements. In the late dialogues,
Plato revises his political plans to accord with a more developed understanding of
cosmic and human nature.
Platonic cosmopolitanism constructs a true polis according to the beautiful order
of the cosmos. Such a feat of philosophy is remarkable in the Greek tradition, and
inspires contemporaries to rethink their own conception of what is truly cosmopolitan
versus merely global.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2010-08-8363 |
| Date | 2010 August 1900 |
| Creators | Betti, Daniel Vincent |
| Contributors | Nederman, Cary J. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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