Cultural Cosmopolitanism and Civic Education

Abstract

This essay has focused on the main aspects of Waldron’s cultural cosmopoli- tanism, which represents a significant challenge to some important assumptions about cultural phenomena that are shared by influential versions of nationalism, communitarianism, and multiculturalism. After distinguishing between a moderate and a strong interpretation of Waldron’s account, this essay briefly explores their educational implications. Without denying that moderate and strong cultural cosmo- politanism may overlap in some of their educational recommendations, I have argued that only the moderate version of cultural cosmopolitanism provides an attractive foundation for a cosmopolitan oriented civic education in democratic societies. For only such a version can be justified in terms of the public goals of promoting a deeper understanding of the nature of cultural phenomena and of cultivating mutual respect among students. Moreover, teaching moderate cultural cosmopolitanism may help students gain a better perspective on the cultural practices of citizens of foreign countries. This version of cosmopolitanism suggests that we should not focus so much on the differences between “cultures” but rather on the similarities, interconnections, and exchanges that take place between cultural phenomena all over the world.