Cosmopolitanism and Discourse Ethics: A Critical Survey*

This article introduces a critical survey of recent discussions of cosmopolitanism by elucidating a common core present in them and by providing a proposal for how that core can be best elaborated. Two theses are defended. The first is that an appropriate conception of cosmopolitanism must include three coordinates: a search for universal rights, sensitivity to contextual specificities, and autonomous empowerment of all individuals. A cosmopolitan stance framed by these conditions must be seen as a form of social criticism. The second thesis is that the practices of public deliberation recommended by the program of discourse ethics provide an ideal medium for the kind of discussion in which people enacting a critical cosmopolitan stance should engage, especially in view of the possible situational tensions between its three coordinates.