Free «Cosmopolitanism and Diversity» Essay Sample

The ability of people to access each other through the various technological platforms has made the globe be a relatively smaller place. The exposures through the internet, fax and other forms of communications have affected the way people live. Positive conversations are vital for people to live together as a global tribe. According to Appiah, cosmopolitanism enables the globe to function as a single human community. Cosmopolitanism requires individuals to reject conventionalism and embrace naturalism. However, how can we be able to live as a single human society when we have differences in beliefs, cultures and values? In the fifth chapter of the Cosmopolitan, Appiah argues in The Primacy of Practice that embracing a single human society does not rule out the occurrence of moral disagreements. People can co-exist peacefully despite their differences in the existing values (Appiah 1-5).

The human community requires members who interact by share common interests. According to Rebekah Nathan, the community has four aspects, which include service, identity, specialization and safety. Communities are a representative of unity and this is achieved through the performance of duties that are not self-centered. Community members hold genetic codes that are specific and unique. Diversification involves having the strength tolerate each other. Unlike Appiah who advocates for cosmopolitanism, Nathan (41) defines community and diversity through the lens of her experiences with fellow students as a university freshman. According to her, people in the community are able to tolerate each other based on the similarities that they have. However, the origins of the similarities remain unmentioned (Nathan 64).

Similarities enable individuals to function sensibly in any given society. A tight-knit community has a share of changes like time demands, scheduling and effects on freedom, which are brought into the community but unappreciated by most of the community members (Nathan 233). It is realistic that persons do often want a solid community, but they are not ready to embrace the attitude that is not self-centeredness. Despite diversity enabling persons to meet new community members of different culture and values, individuals are more comfortable to have persons of the same ethnicity, background and those who act like them (Nathan 231).

Diversity in the community cannot only be achieved by individuals living together but rather has to involve the functioning of people as a single unit that have a common vision. People in the community should be more involved in the issues and lives of the characters in the diverse population that they exist in (Nathan 239). Local organizations play a vital role in the society by embracing participation of the community members in the larger world.

Diversification involves a great deal of collaborative education. This is achieved through gathering of knowledge from various sources through collaborative means. According to The Hive by Marshal Poe, people can diversify through sharing of knowledge. The collaborative sharing of knowledge enlightens people of different cultures to share values that are already existent in the world. The learning and appreciation of different cultures and modes of conversations is a convenient mode through which persons are able to tolerate each other and have a common goal that caters for the needs and aspirations of others. Online communication has enabled many global players to share and enhance their knowledge. Through informational sites like the Wikipedia, diversification of education has been realized. Therefore, it is important to note that exposure to diversity in itself does not offer a chance for the promotion of tolerance. It does not offer a chance for individuals to acknowledge and appreciate the differences that can fuel hostility. The exposure of persons towards the acknowledgement of the differences that exist among the persons offers a chance for positive education that instills one with a sense of a secured identity.

False cosmopolitanism is a melting pot that can shake the advancement of identity and heritage. Rampant individualization, atomization and the disconnection pose great danger by the younger generation from being responsible to other community members. Such antecedents do not enhance diversity and a sense of singleness in the global community. False cosmopolitanism has fueled the attitude of self-centeredness, as persons are not able to care for the welfare of others. This is different from the cosmopolitanism as defined by Appiah, which entails responsiveness both communally and politically.

Conversations among individuals in the community are vital in sustaining diversity. This includes the engagement of personal ideas and experiences, which are normally varied. In attaining cosmopolitan, Appiah, Nathan and Poe have a similar opinion on the need to install a sustained ethical commitment in the community. The world government is a vehicle through which people can attain their basic rights. However, it does not negate the need for the population to have and fulfill their obligations to humanity. Intellectual interchanges should precede the culturally formative denotations. The governments are to seek long-term interventions to the existing communal problems. Diversification is well manifested through the adoption of economic and political developments that have a long-term effect to the community they serve. These can be achieved if the self-centeredness in individuals is meaningfully deleted. The population should have a growth approach that highly relies on the market place not driven by the capital. Cosmopolitanism begins with the appreciation of the roles that leadership has on the citizens. Persons are able to question, albeit constructively, the approaches used in the arrival of the people’s value knowledge (Poe Para. 3).

Diversity and cosmopolitanism are achievable if the community is well aware of its goals. Persons can fully understand each other’s social values through communication. Verbal communication, as a means of conversation, aids in the identification of the social lives of persons of different characteristics. The verbal communication has to be between two or more persons. Since this is not achievable through face-to-face communications, technology plays an important role in connecting people from different nations and cultural backgrounds. The conversations through online social media and the subsequent discussions over issues of relevance and similar importance aid in the building of a single objective among people: to have a society where all persons can coexist peacefully while accommodating each other’s differences through integration (Poe Para. 9).

A critical analysis of integration as postulated by Nathan (107), revolves around the embracing other people’s cultures. Group gatherings that are based on ethnicity often cloud people’s perception and often narrow their mode of relations with other people of different ethnic backgrounds. Integration, in addition to research based on the identification of modes through which stronger ties can be built, through conversation and education will be able to realize the modes of behavior that are meaningfully beneficial in enabling a peaceful society. Education, at this level, should aim at building the capacity of an individual into being a responsible adult. Meaningful education aims at not only learning what one is interested in but also being able to learn and appreciate what others need from them. Diversification among boundaries and persons are often narrowed by relativism and positivism. Positivism and relativism create boundaries that make one not relate with other people’s culture through meaningful learning (Nathan 97).

According to Poe, collaboration through linkages of networked computers can foster large cooperation that is voluntary. Collaborations thorough media are able to increase the sense of realistic conversation because they are faster and cover larger distances than the normal one on one conversation. Written texts and discussions relate well with advancements and building on a founded culture as the information stored can be revisited repeatedly thus being able to arrive at a justifiable analysis of one’s culture, characteristics and values (Poe Para.13).

People often tend to behave well and have a need to be viewed as culturally normal while in contact with other persons of the same or different ethnic background. Each member of the society is given a duty and role in the community that has to fulfill the objectives of the society that he or she represents. The main objective by many according to Appiah is to analyze the ways through which values can be at conflict. Terms of values are always contestable and are often argued across all cultures in the world. Disagreements occur due to the differences in the interpretation of similar values. Globalization has always posed a risk to homogeneity as it creates forms of differences that are novel (Poe).

In conclusion, conversation among individuals in the community is vital in sustaining diversity. This includes the engagement with personal ideas and experiences which are normally varied. Diversity in the community cannot only be achieved by persons living together but rather has to involve the functioning of persons as a single unit that has a common vision. The collaborative sharing of knowledge enlightens people of different cultures and values. The learning and appreciation of different cultures and modes of conversations is the only convenient avenue through which persons are able to tolerate each other and have a common goal that truly reflects the needs and aspirations of others. The world must accept that cultural integration and the achievement of a wholesome society is a long way to go. There must be sustained efforts towards the same.