The Cosmopolitan Perspective on Issues of War and Peace - Essay Example

Submitted The Cosmopolitan Perspective on Issues of War and Peace If there is any idealism that is truly ideal, Cosmopolitanism will definitely be one of them. What is nobler than the recognition of equal rights and responsibility for each person as such each person is a part of the world as any other is. Cosmopolitanism also recognizes that all people are brothers by virtue of sharing one habitat which is earth. The Grecian Stoics gave birth to the idea that we, humans, are “Citizens of the world”. In times of war, the cosmopolitan concept and ideals flourishes more, especially because in these tumultuous times, everyone desires peace yet the reality is, if one party does not want to concede his self to the ideals that each is equal to another, peace cannot really be achieved. The cosmopolitan ideals can be seen in the writings of various authors from Immanuel Kant to the lines of poetry by the British during the 1st world war. Comparing and contrasting their “Cosmopolitan” approaches and putting their writings in its historical context, we can completely grasp what cosmopolitan thinkers envision with regards to the issues of war and peace. Immanuel Kant In various essays and correspondences of Kant, the philosophy that he passionately ascribed to is being cosmopolitan. In his essay Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View, Kant is proposing that the best way to write and view the history of humanity is by looking at it as a process in attaining its highest goal, and as per Kant himself is the attainment of the most flawless form of a civic constitution (Hinsley, 75). The approach that he used to push the idea of cosmopolitanism is natural laws and through a series of theses, extrapolates the conclusion that when the idea of cosmopolitanism is adapted will human kind be able to achieve civility and peace. He further promoted this idea with his essay Perpetual Peace (Hinsley, 62). Just like in the essay previously mentioned, Kant used a formal outline to justify the necessary precursors to having perpetual peace. He believes that wars are necessary yet there are abominable tactics that should be avoided by warring states if both parties would want lasting peace (Sullivan, 243-5). Rather than take on cosmopolitanism at large, his approach is to make the practice of the concept as the target and the rest of his essay are his ideas on how the human race will get there. Jane Addams Jane Addams’ approach towards cosmopolitanism is more focused on gender equality. In her work Peace and Bread in Time of War, she openly displayed the role that women played at the event of a war. She critically presented the various facets of society in war and she presented women not just as victims or collateral damage. Addams presented women as movers and thinkers – fighters equal with men in every right. War for her is a level ground where men and women can equally take on pivotal roles and make a difference. She also emphasized on control of the food supply as being the determinant on who would win the war that usually lasts for long periods of time. Food was also the determinant to how long and satisfying the peace that was got after the wars. If those in control of the food supply will think only of strategies to win, everyone will eventually lose because everyone will eventually starve if the food supply was cut off (Addams, 43-50; Fradin & Fradin, 94-100). In a chapter of her book, Addams made the connection with food rationing and women’s tradition. One would be amazed by how she lobbied for cosmopolitan ideals by citing actual events and what could have happened if the mentality of all people is more cosmopolitan. She further stated that wars would have ended sooner and with less destruction (Addams, 43-50). Henry David Thoreau Henry Thoreau pushed for cosmopolitanism by discussing the roles of the government and the civil servants compared to those of the citizens. His approach in Civil Disobedience is not to deprive people of their right as co-heirs of the earth but their responsibility towards it is evident. Free people should make a stand, take action and decide in times when the majority and the government are in the wrong. Cosmopolitanism operates with respect to universality where there is a single law that encompasses the whole humanity. The role of the government is not to rule but to expedite this universal law until the mankind is ready to handle them without having authority that is in default. At this point, mankind can achieve equality. He also noted that people ought to make themselves heard and not be mere passive spectators. A person needs to make his voice heard. Thoreau also tackled about slavery, and the unfair duties and taxes impose. He reasoned that he will not be subjected under a government that out rightly practices slavery and calls it just to oppress other people for their own sake. He further recognized the importance of making the common people do their part in this big world that we are living in when he took the defense for Captain John Brown. Though he was convicted and sentenced to hang, Thoreau saw the righteousness in his steps and the honesty of his intent. Captain John Brown was aspired in his acts towards cosmopolitan endeavors. This was what Thoreau had expressed in the plea for Brown …He was a superior man. He did not value his bodily life in comparison with ideal things. He did not recognize unjust human laws, but resisted them as he was bid. For once we are lifted out of the trivialness and dust of politics into the region of truth and manhood. No man in America has ever stood up so persistently and effectively for the dignity of human nature, knowing himself for a man, and the equal of any and all governments (22). What the individual is against is the weight of the decisions and happenings of the world. The true wars are not the ones fought with guns and arms. The true war is within one’s self – the constant battle between keeping your values and principles and surrendering to go with the flow of those in rule or the majority. World War 1 British Poets The cosmopolitan ideals are also reflected in the works of several British poets during World War I. An example of this is poet Rudyard Kipling via The Choice and For All We Have and Are expresses the ideals of cosmopolitanism. They reflect not only the suffering of the British army but also consider the cost that the war would bring to the opposing parties and the innocent people. Since the ideals of cosmopolitanism stipulated that every man is a part of a whole, the fight for freedom is the soldier’s choice and he chooses to die because he believes that it is the best option. Rudyard Kipling exemplifies the ideals of cosmopolitanism as such his poetry reflects that everyone, no matter which side you are in the conflict, will be affected by the decisions of others. Everyone will be judged according to the universal law, and in the end, everyone will face the consequences of his or her actions. At war, there is reward in death, and judgment in life. Peace will always take its toll. The only hope for humankind is to acknowledge not the sides that he chose to fight from but the internal reasons that kept him fighting (Kipling, 194-5). There were soldiers during the First World War who were also poets. An example of these soldiers cum poet is Robert Graves. With his experience with the war, Graves wrote poems and other literary works that would tell the stories of the war itself and those individuals who experienced the war first-hand whether as soldiers or as civilians caught within the conflict. Not all literary works written by Graves was published as the writer would want to put the nightmare which is the war behind him and face life with a head held up high. The effect of the war was evident in dome of the lines The Next War Wars don’t change except in name; The next one must go just the same, And new foul tricks unguessed before Will win and justify this War (PoemHunter.Com). The last line that has been quoted from Graves’ poem does not compliment the aim that Thoreau stated. War will not be answer in achieving peace. It will be just another violent act to know who is more dominant than the other. Wars can even be dubbed as just an exercise of power and an act of violence. As interpreted by these authors, cosmopolitanism has a lot of bearing in terms of war and peace. Many aspects have to be examined in order to attain true equality and universalism. Acknowledgement of the individual as a part of a unified whole must be laid out clearly for cosmopolitan ideals to be adapted. If everyone treats another as their equal and everyone owed the consequences to his or her own actions then humanity will only have wars that will give way to lasting peace. References Addams, Jane. Peace and Bread in Time of War. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press. 2002. Fradin, Judith Bloom & Fradin, Dennis B. Jane Addams: Champion of Democracy. New York, NY: Clarion Books. 2006. Graves, Robert. The Next War. Accessed 07 May 2014. Retrieved from http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-next-war/. Hinsley, F. H. Power and the Pursuit of Peace: Theory and Practice in the History of Relations between States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Kipling, Rudyard. The Works of Rudyard Kipling. Hertfordshire, UK: Wordsworth Edition Limited. 1994. Sullivan, Roger J. Immanuel Kants Moral Theory. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Thoreau, Henry David. Annotated, with introduction and commentary by Milton Meltzer. Civil Disobedience. pdf. Web. 16 March 2014 Thoreau, Henry David. A Plea for Captain John Brown Read to the Citizens of Concord, Massachusetts, Sunday Evening, October 30, 1859. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2012. Read More