In this highly original book, Jason Hill defends a strong form of moral cosmopolitanism and lays the groundwork for a new view of the self. To achieve a radical cosmopolitan identity, he argues it may be necessary to forget aspects of one's racial and ethnic socialization. The idea of forgetting where one came from demands that morally recreated persons disown parts or even all of their cultures if these cultures are oppressive or denigrate human life. Hill draws on existentialism, developmental psychology, and his own experiences as a Caribbean immigrant to the United States to present a philosophy for the new millennium.
Becoming a Cosmopolitan
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The fire of individual freedom that burns for Nietzsche, John Stuart Mill, Dewey and Sartre now sheds light in Jason Hill's Becoming a Cosmopolitan. Hill develops pragmatic, existentialist and narrative accounts of how we can choose and make ourselves, despite prefabricated racial, ethnic and national identities.--Naomi Zack, Department of Philosophy, State University of New York at Albany
About the Author
Jason D. Hill is an associate professor of philosophy at De Paul University and author of Beyond Blood Identities.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Radical Lover of Humanity
21 Jun 2000
By Damian
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This beautifully and poetically written book is perhaps the first of its kind. Hill, I believe has two purposes here. The first is the idea that all fights against racism, ethnocentrism and nationalism are doomed until one begins to question the legitimacy of and then fight against their root foundation: tribalism. It is tribalism that Hill feels is the real danger of the modern world and the root cause of, as he puts it, all the carnage and butchery of human existence.He refers to tribalism as a form of infantilism in which the need for parental protection is sublimated and mapped on to the nation/race or ethnos. He thinks that tribalism is evil because it demarcates a set of what he terms, arbitrary and morally irrelevant attributes of people and then use them as moral criteria in judging their worth and value as human beings. He believes that there is virtue in forgetting where we came from (we, meaning humans in general) not as a way of denying our history, but as a form of benevolence in showing that we are willing to open up ourselves to the process of "becoming" (Hill's coinage); to show that we don't take our starting points in life as absolutely defining us in who we have to be for the rest of our lives. The second purpose his book seems to fulfill is that of providing a psychological way of actually becoming a lover of humanity. He thinks the self has to be re-socilaized all over again and he sort of provides a blue-print for how it can actually be done. His ideas range from the notion of moral masking, to adopting the view of the self as a construct of narratives or stories. The end result he believes is one that will bring about a kind of radical self-invention and real comsmic freedom. This book will require careful reading. The author is a philosopher. But he has tried to write for a broad audience. I can't say for sure whether the world Jason Hill wishes to come into existence is really possible. He gives us litle advice on how on a political level a comsopolitan universe is possible. But on the personal level he has tried to communicate how, as he terms it, a radical soul transformation is possible.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a beautiful work.
15 Mar 2005
By Mayur Thaker
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I also had the wonderful oppurtunity of taking Dr. Jason D. Hill's multiculturalism class (ISP 200). He teaches the class with two texts, one of them being his own Becoming a Cosmopolitan. Dr Hill is a wonderful person, and his book is almost poetic in nature. He has a profound love for all of humanity and is a very admirable person.
His book inspires you to look beyond the boundaries of race, color, creed, nationality and gender, and accept everyone as constituents of the human race. Beauty is an intrinsic quality of all human beings, according to Hill.
His class at DePaul University and his book has given me a new way of seeing and interacting with other people: through moral cosmopolitanism.
This is a must read to get a full fledged idea of how inherently beautiful humanity is.
His book inspires you to look beyond the boundaries of race, color, creed, nationality and gender, and accept everyone as constituents of the human race. Beauty is an intrinsic quality of all human beings, according to Hill.
His class at DePaul University and his book has given me a new way of seeing and interacting with other people: through moral cosmopolitanism.
This is a must read to get a full fledged idea of how inherently beautiful humanity is.
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