Cosmopolitanism pertains to wide international experience. Cosmopolitan, meaning citizenship of the world; refers to a taste or consideration for cultures besides one's own culture of origin, as with a traveller or globally conscious person. The term derives from Greek cosmos (world) + polis (city, people, citizenry), and was widely used by ancient philosophers, such as the Stoics and Cynics, to describe a universal love of humankind as a whole, regardless of nation. The term may also be used as a synonym for worldly or sophistocated .

In the realms of social and political philosophy, cosmopolitanism is the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community; contrasted with ideologies of patriotism and nationalism. Cosmopolitanism may or may not entail some sort of world government; or may simply refer to more inclusive moral, economic, and/or political relationships between nations or individuals of different nations.

Cosmopolitans believe there is a burden on all of the people to cultivate and improve humanity as a whole and to provide enrichment in the best way that they can. This ties into ideas of brotherhood of humanity, and how the human race is one entity that humans must all band together to support. Nation-states are in a Hobbseian state of nature amongst each other, and in order to avoid conflicts and injustices, a "social contract" should be established among them.

Some critics of cosmopolitanism suggest that national affiliations are important to persons' identities, and that cosmopolitanism would strip an important component of social fulfillment and belonging from individuals.

Critics of economic cosmopolitanism argue that the economies of nation-states are necessary for an international economy to function, and a single world economy would fail.

Critics of moral cosmopolitanism argue that the concept of loyalty describes a virtue, and insofar as one does no wrong to people of other nation-states, one's priority should be the people of one's own country.

See also: multiculturalism, cosmopolitan

External link

• Cosmopolitanism at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy