A mode or ‘way’ of being in the world commensurate with the condition of globalization, characterized by a high level of mutual respect for the rights of others and a generalized tolerance of ethnic, cultural, political and national differences. It is in this sense a paradoxical concept because it implies identification with one’s difference or singularity and an empathetic acknowledgement of one’s sameness. It can in this sense be compared to pluralism and internationalism. The word derives from a combination of the Greek for world or universe (Kosmos) and the city or polity (polis) and is said to originate with the founding father of the Cynics, Diogenes of Sinope who famously declared himself to be a ‘citizen of the world’ (kosmopolitēs), implying that he answered to a ‘higher’ power than that of the city-state to whom his allegiance was in fact owed. Cosmopolitanism is a utopia concept inasmuch that it cannot be legislated into being and nowhere exists in its pure state, though it is often claimed that so-called ‘world cities’ like London, New York, Paris, and Istanbul embody many of its ideals. It has attracted commentary from some of the finest commentators in western philosophy from Kant, Immanuel to Derrida, Jacques, but it is not without its ambiguities. Further Reading: K. Appiah Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (2006). U. Beck Cosmopolitan Vision (2006). T. Brennan At Home in the World: Cosmopolitanism Now (1997). P. Cheah and B. Robbins (eds.) Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling beyond the Nation (1998). J. Derrida On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness (2001). J. Kristeva Strangers to Ourselves (1991). S. Toulmin Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity (1990).