You are now finishing ur first bag of Reecie's Thought Pieces; Cosmo. Ch 10

In this chapter, Appiah discusses “basic human rights.” His examples are things such as health, food, shelter, education, freedom to move, have children, express ideas, etc. Reviewing the UN Declaration of Human Rights I see many of Appiah’s examples stated in this document. I see human rights of all kind like that of equality, no discrimination, no objection of unnecessary torture, freedom, and many many more. I believe this document was created in order for there to be a statement that these “rights” should be followed, and do not cost anything except for those to understand them. That these basic needs are exactly that… basic, and should just be aiding, not harming. In order for everyone to obtain these basic rights, Appiah gives 3 examples of obligations that should be met. The first comes from the nation-state. The acceptance of this means we have responsibility to our own but also making sure other states are caring for their own. Secondly, in our obligations, we must do our own fair share, but we are not required to do more. We shall do as we see fair then know we have done our part, and that is all we can do. Thirdly, we cannot put all the obligations of the world on ourselves, nor can we put these obligations to others before the obligations we have to ourselves. As Appiah says, “I cannot be required to derail my life to take up the slack.” Overall I think that “basic human rights” are for the good of man, but it seems that it might be impossible to get the world to share the same belief about this.

Appiah states that a cosmopolitan is “responsive to what Smith called ‘reason, principle, conscience, the inhabitant of the breast.’” To start describing who at UK would be fitting of this description given by Appiah, I would have to begin by saying they would be someone with awareness of our obligations to others. Someone who knows that if they can help someone else they will, but it does not mean they can’t live their own lives to the fullest. The Adam Smith example explains that it is basically a natural instinct to look out for ourselves first. This UK cosmopolitan would think reasonably about globalization, and with principles. As for obligation to others, they would think of a stranger not quite as they think of their friends and family, but still would have cosmopolitan concern for the stranger. This means they do not necessarily “feel” for these strangers, but that they owe them they same general obligations as another human being. So if a UK student is kind and courteous to their friends, they would feel it was an obligation to others (strangers) to also be courteous. This also goes back to understanding (not necessarily agreeing to) another’s values rather than pushing their own idea only. There most likely many cosmopolitans at UK that I’m waiting to meet :)

Hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Cosmopolitanism
Thanks :)
-Reecie Foxtrot ^_^