Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism, as Appiah describes it, is based in the practice of conversation, specifically conversation with those outside our own cultural circles. The book’s Introduction is titled “Making Conversation,” and Appiah first brings up the possibilities of conversation in a nostalgic description of face-to-face interactions of families from various ethnic and national backgrounds from his 1950s childhood in Kumasi. He sees potential in actual conversations with individuals from outside our own cultural backgrounds, in which people seek to understand one another and find common ground. At several points in the text he provides examples of people engaging in such face-to-face interactions, including his own parents and their families.

However, conversation means more than speaking with someone in a literal sense; it also has a more symbolic meaning for Appiah. He emphasizes that what is important about conversation is not seeking to persuade the other party. People are rarely convinced by reasons given or arguments provided in a conversation. What’s important is that a conversation asks us to engage with another person’s viewpoint, much like watching a film or reading a book (85). This engagement transforms us. When we are asked to actively participate in this imaginative engagement across a cultural boundary, it is a kind of conversation.