Fr. 139.00

Towards a Genealogy of Cosmopolitan Thought - Before and Beyond Liberalism

English · Hardback

Will be released 01.07.2026

Description

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Liberalism, with cosmopolitanism as its intellectual spearhead, seems to be in retreat, while illiberal and populist narratives have come to dominate the digital space. In this book, Detlef von Daniels suggests that this crisis can be addressed through historically situated self-reflection.

It begins by noting that cosmopolitan ideas have antecedents going back to the pre-Platonic Sophists. In this light, Plato emerges as the first anti-cosmopolitan philosopher. Unsurprisingly, Plato again plays an important role in today's authoritarian discourses. Kant's political philosophy is then read as a fundamental reorientation of philosophy, though one whose dialectics Kant himself had already discerned. Against Heidegger's appropriation of both antiquity and Kant, Kelsen's theory of law emerges as a sober antidote that gives rise to two models of post-foundational thought.

​​​​​​​Framed by the voices of Sappho and Hölderlin, the book finally reveals a poetic mode of communication across space and time.


About the author










Detlef von Daniels is a Lecturer in German Philosophy in the European Studies Program at Freie Universität Berlin

Summary

Uncovers the hidden roots and future pathways of cosmopolitan thought in an age of fragmentation and reorientation.

Product details

Authors Detlef Von Daniels, Detlef von (Freie Universitat Berlin) Daniels
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
 
Languages English
Product format Hardback
Release 01.07.2026
 
EAN 9781399550758
ISBN 978-1-3995-5075-8
No. of pages 288
Series Encounters in Law & Philosophy
Subjects Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries
Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Miscellaneous

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