Cosmopolitism

Cosmopolitism is a term used to describe the way people act towards others.  It is a condition or a character trait of a cosmopolite.  In other words, cosmopolitism means that an individual disregards national and local prejudices or peculiarities.  Instead of believing that he is part of a singular country, race or type of people, he believes that he belongs to the larger unit. 

There are many ways to define cosmopolitism.  First, take into consideration cosmopolitanism.  This term is an idea that the entire human race belongs to a single community that is the same morally.  With this understanding, people have tried to prove or disprove that theory.  The opposite term to describe cosmopolitism is communitarian. 

Many have defined cosmopolitism as some type of world government, which governs each human on the planet.  In other ways of looking at this term, it refers instead to a moral hold over the human race instead.  Still another way to see this theory is to consider that it is an economic or political relationship shared by all people as well as all nations in the world. 

Cosmopolitism is an ideal that has been present for hundreds of years.  The ancient Greeks first coined it.  A man named Diogenes of Sinope was asked where he came from.  The man referred to as the man that lived in a barrel.  He answered the question by saying that he was a citizen of the world. 

Today, the term cosmopolitism describes a person that travels widely.  This person is a world traveler, as well as a globally conscious person.  Rather than thinking of himself as a citizen of one particular country, someone that believes in cosmopolitism believes that instead he is a citizen of the entire world.  The term is not widely used, but cosmopolitism is a growing trend.