Critical Cosmology: On Nations and Globalization

(Paperback)

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Globalization is more than an economic or geopolitical matter; it is above all a new (political) culture. Like the Kantian revolution in the 18th century, our "global" moment urgently requires philosophical inquiry to determine if it represents a 20th century revolution in thinking. Critical Cosmology takes up the task of establishing the much needed philosophical tools to "think" globalization by reading Kant's re-foundation of cosmopolitanism as a political, not moral, text. Raulet, in committing himself to a close study of this late capitalist global moment, gets us to a much-needed cosmology of 21st century "globalization." The world's economic evolution has continually challenged some of our most basic modern concepts, especially the recognition of the rights of nations. This evolution has also created a need for recognizing the rights of citizens and others participating in the growth of the world's economies. In neither the service of a prescriptive morality nor in the service of any one specific cultural, political, or intellectual ideology Grard Raulet investigates the construction of a public space that can accommodate global citizenship. Through a unique and massive genealogy of political thinkers Raulet, like no other contemporary critic, begins the process of carving out the social, cultural, and political space that will come to accommodate the common activity of an emerging global culture. A brilliant and unique investigation of our contemporary political moment this will affect political thinkers of every variety and, especially, those who are concerned with conflict and peace studies, the development of nations and nation-states, and human rights on a national and international scale

Reviews

This book, informed by an subtle and cogent reading of Kant's political philosophy, provides not only a basis for resistance, but insight into the potential for the kind of understanding of citizenship which takes the experience of nations into account. -- David Rasmussen,From the Introduction, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Boston College
Too little known in the English-speaking world until the publication of this essay, though long held in high regard among European social philosophers, Grard Raulet offers a unique and powerful perspective on the most salient issues in the contemporary social and political world. Strongly influenced by the traditions of Kant and of French Republicanism, he shows a keen sense of the dangers of both unbridled capitalism and "multiculturalism," defends the continuing importance of the nation-state within a cosmopolitan framework, and subtly analyzes the interrelated roles of morality, legality, and teleology in generating a viable political theory for our time. -- William McBride, Department of Philosophy, Purdue University
We need all the rigorous thinking we can muster to make sense of globalizations implications and challenges. In this suggestive and thought-provoking essay, Raulet moves the debate forward in productive ways. As in everything by Raulet that I have read, this book shows a bredth of learning and acuity of analytical imagination.... -- Martin Jay, Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley

Author Bio

Grard Raulet is Professor of the History of Ideas at L'Universit de Paris, Sorbonne, and Chair of the Weimar Culture Research Group at Maison des Sciences de L'Homme/CNRS.