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  • Essay / Critical Analysis of Kwame Anthony Appiah's Conversation Theory

    “Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers,” written by Kwame Anthony Appiah, examines the imagined boundaries that have prevented people from building relationships social. These boundaries are made up of many communication blocks such as language, morals, values, resources, etc. The effects of these boundaries have caused many people to separate into two communities: local and global. The presence of two different sets of communities, local or global, poses many problems in today's world. One being the feeling of empathy between the two. For example, recently a major hurricane hit the Bahamas and caused a disaster. According to the news site The New York Times, Hurricane Dorian was the worst natural disaster in the country's history. On a scale of 1 to 10, a resident of the Bahamas would care 10 times more about their country than the average person residing elsewhere. Indeed, this person may have called this place home, this person may have a family that they created there, or, perhaps, this person may have grown up on this island. The fact is that the person who does not reside in the Bahamas does not care because he does not live there nor does he have to deal with the daily problems that the country faces. This is where Appiah’s theory of cosmopolitanism comes into play. Appiah defines his theory of cosmopolitanism as a conversation which is a source for people to exchange their experiences, cultures, values, etc. He doesn't see conversation as a simple dialogue between two people, but rather as an opportunity for growth. Although Appiah's theory of conversation may seem reasonable to some, others may think that there are other means of conversation to build social relationships; like the many chat sites featured in the world today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay To begin with, Appiah emphasizes that the reason for exchanging in a conversation is not just to change minds, but to change merely an overview of the question of the hand (Appiah 54). For example, sites like The New York Times, YouTube, The Daily radio podcast, and the New York Daily News all give people insight into what's happening in the world, regardless of where they are. These sites also allow people around the world to communicate with each other to express their ideas as well as their concerns. The platform that stood out the most was the New York-based radio podcast, The Daily. The Daily hosted by journalist Michael Barbaro includes many different episodes that talk about everyday issues in society. In the radio podcast, people are allowed to express their opinions in the featured chat box, through phone calls, text messages, emails, etc. People's opinions can lead to debate and for some, a huge cloud of judgment over each other. Appiah tells us: “After all, when we make judgments, it is rarely because we have applied well-considered principles to a set of facts and deduced an answer. Our efforts to justify what we have done or what we plan to do generally consist of after-the-fact rationalizations of what we have intuitively decided. This means that even if we exchange conversations with each other, there may be judgments made about the opposing person. This would allow people to pause any conversation with that person. The result is that we cannot hear that person's version nor do 2017