What is cosmopolitanism? The etymology of the word goes back to Ancient Greek, and is composed of the words kosmos, world, and polites, citizen. Cosmopolitanism should therefore be a theory of world politics, of a world in which a single shared political order would rule and of which every individual would be an active component. Perhaps this is what cosmopolitan theory has become through the works of David Held and other contemporary scholars; but cosmopolitanism began as ? and long remained ? a philosophy of nature. Reflecting upon human nature, the Stoics came to the conclusion that man and earth were part of a same materiality which they called cosmos. Because of this common belonging, all human beings were to be considered equal.
[...] As one approaches the end of Empire, it seems quite obvious that Hardt and Negri do have a cosmopolitan ideal in mind for the multitude and for its liberation. What differentiates their work from that of Kant, however, is that they view cosmopolitanism rather in the same way the Stoics did – as a philosophy of human nature and of its inherent rights – rather than as an institutional achievement to bind all individuals under a single political hierarchy. This is apparently negated by the fact that Hardt and Negri claim not to have a definite conception of human nature since “the multitude is biopolitical self-organization”, and can therefore be whatever it desires to be. [...]
[...] Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View. Third thesis. [xii] I. Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View. Third thesis. [xiii] M. Hardt and A. Negri, Empire. Harvard U. Press. Pp 400. [xiv] M. [...]
[...] Hardt and A. Negri, Empire. Harvard U. Press. Pp 300. [viii] M. Hardt and A. Negri, Empire. Harvard U. Press. Pp 332. M. [...]
[...] Hardt and A. Negri, Empire. Harvard U. Press. Pp 47. M. Hardt and A. Negri, Empire. Harvard U. Press. Pp 218. I. [...]
[...] Hardt and A. Negri, Empire. Harvard U. Press. Pp 41. M. Hardt and A. Negri, Empire. Harvard U. Press. Pp 327. [vii] M. [...]
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