Seyla Benhabib's Lecture By Martha Nussbaum

Throughout history and time, the perception of cosmopolitanism has changed immensely. Before the modern day, philosophers such as Diogenes and Immanuel Kant had similar ideas on how to attain a cosmopolitan society. But throughout time, these concepts have altered to accommodate the constant change and growth of cultures today. Now in the modern day, we have philosophers that have expanded and created a new concept, shifting the image of cosmopolitanism more towards the individual rather than the nation state. They believe cosmopolitanism is an idea that surpasses the borders of a nation, looking at an individual to not only have a national identity, but also join a global society. Although Seyla Benhabib, Martha Nussbaum, and Ulrich Beck all

In Seyla Benhabib’s lecture, she reaches this conclusion of a cosmopolitan society by studying and looking at the issues of World War II. She discussed how genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes all played a part in shaping her view of an ideal cosmopolitan world. In professor Kim’s lecture, he discussed how one of the key characteristics of cosmopolitanism in Benhabib’s lecture was the fact that a crime against humanity was carried out by a state (Kim, Lecture 11). During World War II, Germany was responsible for taking away the rights of the Jewish people even considering the fact that they were citizens of the state. She emphasizes the fact that the state turned on the individual and how that was a crime against the human race. This was evident that there needed to be a shift of power from the state to the individual. She believed that the rise of an International Human Rights Regime to prevent future events like these was one of the greatest achievements mankind could achieve (Benhabib, 27). The fact that these international laws were being treated as the norm, was a huge step towards the protection of all

In her writing she states, “Americans have frequently supported the principle of Bande Mataram, giving the fact of being American a special salience in moral and political deliberation, and pride in a specifically American identity and a specifically American citizenship a special power among the motivations to political action” (Nussbaum, 3). Nationalism was a problem. She observed that the American people thought very highly of themselves and that they thought that other people from other nations thought highly of them too. She knew that a mindset like this was dangerous to have, especially in trying to build a cosmopolitan society. Here in America, children are taught to respect other nations, but know that above all, they are citizens of the US. They were taught to believe that their citizenship was greater than any other citizenship. With this, it’s easy for one to believe they are entitled to special respect. To fix this problem, Nussbaum introduces cosmopolitan education. She states that we shouldn’t forget about our identifications and what makes us who were are, “but we should also work to make all human beings part of our community of dialogue and concern, base our political deliberations on that interlocking commonality, and give the circle that defines our humanity special attention and respect”