Wonder and Generosity: Their Role in Ethics and Politics

Chapter 5: Cosmopolitanism, Hospitality, and Refugees

113 5 Cosmopolitanism, Hospitality, and Refugees yet this possible abuse cannot annul the right of citizens of the world to try to establish community with all and, to this end, to visit all regions of the earth. —immanuel Kant,“toward Perpetual Peace” Hospitality is an act or set of acts, rather than a passion or attitude like wonder or generosity, yet both passions and attitudes are important to understanding hospitality.in this chapter,i discuss the concept of hospitality in the context of the moral and political philosophy of cosmopolitanism. recent philosophers, political scientists, and cultural theorists have suggested that the concept of cosmopolitanism is useful to theorize an ideal relationship between different nations, and to confront the problems faced by asylum seekers and refugees.1 Hospitality involves the openness of wonder to the difference of the arriving other, and generosity is also needed in terms of respect for asylum seekers and their rights as human beings. immanuel Kant’s view of cosmopolitanism, especially as rendered in his essay “toward Perpetual Peace” (1996a), discussed in the previous chapter, is one of the most significant and influential in the debate concerning the treatment of asylum seekers. in a number of works, including On Cosmo­ politanism and Forgiveness (2001) and Of Hospitality (2000), as i have noted, Jacques derrida takes up Kant’s cosmopolitanism,in particular his notion of the right to universal hospitality as a useful way of thinking through these questions.as derrida says,“it is not for speculative or ethical reasons that i 114 Wonder and Generosity am interested in unconditional hospitality, but in order to transform what is going on today in our world” (Kearney and dooley 1999, 70). arendt’s discussion of the “right to have rights” is also relevant here and i will show how this should be understood as extending generosity to asylum seekers. the problems faced by those fleeing persecution and hardship are among the most significant occurring in our world today, and these problems have only been increased by recent concerns about terrorism, and continuing violence in iraq, afghanistan, and elsewhere. Can the concepts of cosmopolitanism and hospitality help us think how to transform and overcome the difficulties asylum seekers and refugees face? Furthermore, what is the role of wonder and generosity here? the problem is one that cuts across ethics and politics and calls for both a personal response and a political framework that shapes and nurtures the appropriate personal responses. it is also concerns questions about how people interact with others of different races and cultures, and a problem that can affect women in ways that are not properly recognized in international law. Philosophical and theoretical reflection on these concepts can suggest that policies concerning asylum seekers and refugees need to be framed differently. Cosmopolitanism takes the idea of generosity or respect for all and gives it an international and political face.Hospitality exemplifies a genuine openness and welcoming of the other and can involve both wonder at difference and generosity.But this is to leap ahead. First, we need to be aware of the Kantian source of these concepts, which emerge from the ethical political framework i discussed in the last chapter. Kant’s Cosmopolitanism a preliminary discussion of Kant’s cosmopolitanism is necessary to situate these questions. in the broadest terms, cosmopolitanism refers to nations composed of people or elements from many different cultures or countries, or sometimes to individuals who are familiar with a variety of cultures— “citizens of the world.” as mentioned briefly in the preceding chapter, Kant’s philosophical idea is of a world cosmopolitanism rather than cosmopolitanism within countries and is compatible with, indeed in his view necessarily composed of, independent, autonomous nations. Kant’s concept of cosmopolitanism occurs in the context of his teleological philosophy of history and his views on the politics of right. Kant set up the problem facing humanity in the fifth thesis of “idea for a universal history with a Cosmopolitanism, Hospitality, and refugees 115 cosmopolitan intent” in this way: “the greatest problem for the human species, whose solution nature compels it to seek, is to achieve a universal civil society administered in accord with the right” (1983, 8: 22).2 according to Kant, we are continually progressing toward a more perfect state, a state in which we will all be perfectly moral, rational, and happy. nature’s purpose is to bring us to this ideal state but...