Cosmopolitanism without Foundations?

This book examines the foundations of cosmopolitanism and ways of conceiving non-totalizing foundations of cosmopolitanism. The core idea shared by all cosmopolitan views is that all human beings belong to a single community and the ultimate units of moral concern are individual human beings, not states or particular forms of human associations. Nevertheless, the attempts to ground a political theory on overarching universal principles, inevitable in constructing a cosmopolitan theory give to cosmopolitanism a certain temptation to foundationalism that is in contradiction with the plurality of social, cultural, political, religious interpretative standpoints in the contemporary world. The book explores the possibilities of overcoming this contradiction inherent in advancing a cosmopolitan theory. The innovative aspects of the book are in its focus on foundations/grounds of cosmopolitanism and in its attempts to advance approaches of cosmopolitanism that will avoid firm/given foundations.