Overall, I got the sense that this draft of the cosmopolitan credo, although not perfect, consistently reflected Appiah’s arguments about cosmopolitanism and how to behave and relate to people in a world in which we are surrounded by strangers. The credo encourages us to “be curious,” to “understand, not necessarily agree,” and to “respect other’s beliefs.” All of these ideas are consistent with Appiah’s overarching theme that we are all connected, so cross-cultural communication is inevitable, and as a result, we must strive to learn from and understand each other, while also respecting our differences, understanding the origin of these differences, and learning to converse without feeling obligated to come to an agreement on values. Due to the thorough nature of the credo created in class, it seems that there are no missing elements of Appiah’s argument from the credo.
As for some of the imperfections of the credo drafted in class, there are several points of the credo that seem to be repetitive in nature. For example, “don’t impose your beliefs on others,” “respect others’ beliefs,” and “different beliefs cannot be pushed onto other people and we must also respect other belief systems,” all essentially try to get across the same overall idea of respecting others’ beliefs by not trying to force your own beliefs upon them. These three statements should be combined into one, specific statement, such as, “respect others’ beliefs and do not impose your own beliefs on others.” Additionally, the statements, “accept that we don’t have to agree,” and “understand, not necessarily agree,” also essentially have the same meaning. For greater clarity and less repetition, it would be better to combine the statements into, “learn to understand without necessarily agreeing.” For greater clarity, it would be wise to change “be curious” to “be curious and ask questions,” to emphasize the importance of communication and conversation for mutual understanding between two potential strangers. The statement “recognize universal particulars” argues an essential point of cosmopolitanism, but to improve the understanding of this statement, it should be changed to, “recognize the different ways to apply universal values that are particular to each individual society.” The phrase “be practical about aiding others” is important to Appiah’s argument, but a better way to describe the point of this statement would be to write instead, “efficiently allocate resources when helping others,” to express Appiah’s idea that our money and efforts to help others should not go to waste, so we should research and understand how to best solve an issue and use our resources in that way.
Generally, I consider myself a cosmopolitan, open-minded, curious, and respectful individual, and with that being said, I feel that I can live by and already do live by all of its terms. All of its terms except, “know what to keep and what to discard,” that is. Unfortunately, I do not understand what this phrase means in relation to cosmopolitanism, and therefore cannot apply it to my cosmopolitan life. This phrase should be better explained or omitted from the credo. Due to the fact that cosmopolitanism, by nature, attempts to understand differences, there is a great level of universal application to principles of cosmopolitanism. The credo created in class, overall, seems to accurately represent these principles, and as a result, this credo is not peculiarly American, but has a universal appeal. All citizens of the globe who encounter strangers can apply these principles, and it would be advantageous for all humans to apply these principles, in order to move human society forward through cohesion and respectful communication.
Between Shadow and Light 