Critical Analysis of Kwame Anthony Appiah’s Theory of Conversation

'Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers' written by Kwame Anthony Appiah, examines the imaginary boundaries that have kept people from building social relationships. These boundaries consist of many blocks of communication such as language, morals, values, resources, etc. The effects of these boundaries have caused many people to separate themselves into two communities: local and global. With two different sets of communities, local or global, poses many problems surfacing in the world today. One being, the feeling of empathy between the two. For example, recently there has been a major hurricane hit on the Bahamas that led to a catastrophe. According to The New York Times, a news website, Hurricane Dorian was the worst natural disaster in the country's history. On a scale from 1 to 10, a resident of the Bahamas would care 10 times more about their country than the average person that resides elsewhere. This is because that person may have called the place their home, that person may have a family that they created there, or, perhaps that person may have grown up on that island. The point is, the person who doesn't reside in the Bahamas could care less because they don't live there nor do they have to deal with the everyday problems the country faces. This is where Appiah's theory of cosmopolitanism comes in to play. Appiah defines his theory of cosmopolitanism as a conversation is a source for people to exchange each other's experiences, cultures, values, etc. He doesn't see conversation as just dialogue between two people but more so he saw it as an opportunity for growth. While Appiah's theory of conversation may seem reasonable for some, there may be others who feel as if there are alternative ways of conversation in building social relationships; such as the many sites of conversation presented in the world today.

To begin with, Appiah points out that the reason for exchanging in a conversation with one another is not just to change each other's mind, but to merely give insight on the matter of hand (Appiah 54). For example, sites like The New York Times, Youtube, The Daily radio podcast, and New York Daily News, all give people insight on what's happening in the world despite where they are. These sites also allow people worldwide to communicate with one another in expressing their ideas as well as their concerns. The platform that stood out the most is the radio podcast based in New York, The Daily. The Daily hosted by journalist Michael Barbaro consists of many different episodes that talk about the day to day problems in society. Within the radio podcast, people are allowed to voice their opinions in the chatbox presented, through phone calls, text, email, etc. People's voices of opinions can lead to a debate and for some, a huge cloud of judgment cast upon one another. Appiah tells us that, 'When we offer judgments, after all, it's rarely because we have applied well thought out principles to a set of facts and deduced an answer. Our efforts to justify what we have done or what we plan to do are typically made up after the event, rationalizations of what we have decided intuitively.' This goes to say, although we exchange conversations with one another, there may be set judgments on the opposing person. This would allow people to withhold further conversation with that person. Resulting in not being able to hear that person's side of the story nor empathizing with them.

On the other hand, if empathy was present as well as Appiah's theory of cosmopolitanism, people would think twice about judging others or making rational decisions. For example, on The Daily, there was an episode on 'Why the Amazon is Burning?' where it talks about how there has been a record of 26,000 fires inside the Amazon rainforest in August leading to global calls for action. The main reason as to why Amazon is burning down is because of a lack of empathy and communication. According to Rachel Garett, a professor at Boston University who studies Brazil's land, deforestation is largely due to farmers clearing the land for agricultural purposes. In other words, these farmers are using what is called a slash and burn method, to erase the homes of many people and animals to make a profit off of the land. Appiah points out that each person you know about and can affect is someone to whom you have responsibilities. To say this is just to affirm the very idea of morality. In other words, If Appiah’s theory were to be acknowledged in this scenario, then the farmers who use the slash and burn method would think wisely about who and what they are affecting.

Furthermore, a conversation doesn't have to lead to a consensus about anything, especially not values; it is enough that it helps people get used to each other. In simpler words, the conversation doesn't exactly mean that someone has to accept someone else's values, but it's enough for them to accept that person as a whole despite their differences. For example, Youtube is another multimedia website where people worldwide get to see the differences in cultures, values, beliefs, etc. Youtube offers many forms of communication when it comes to people wanting to voice their opinions: such as a chatbox and 1 on 1 live session where people get to talk face to face. There was this video that was posted on Youtube by the New York Daily News where it demonstrates Appiah's theory fully. In the video presented, there were two men, one was a German man and the other was an African American man. Throughout the video, the German man was shouting racial slurs towards the black man and telling him with words and gestures how much he hated the black guy. Instead of the black man reacting violently towards the German guy, he did the most shocking thing; he walked up to the German guy and hugged him. As he was hugging the German guy, in the video there were words presented on the screen of the German man's thoughts. 'Why is he hugging me?' 'Do I hate this man?' 'How can I hate this man?' While the black protester is hugging the German guy, he's asking him, 'Why do you hate me?' The German guy's reaction was nonetheless in a state of shock. At that exact moment, he didn't know what to do so all he could say at the moment was 'I'm sorry' and hug the guy back. This shows that despite their differences, there was no justifiable reason as to why the German guy should hate the opposing man. Although, this doesn't mean that both men are considered best friends, however; it does mean that they are both on the same page as one another. The German guy has finally accepted the black protester as a human being and nothing less of.

To conclude, Appiah's theory of cosmopolitanism was not meant to be seen as a solution but more so as an opportunity for growth. As stated before, conversation is a key to a better start and a better beginning as well as inputting empathy into the equation. Although conversation cannot fix all problems, there are ways around it. By accepting people no matter the differences that are presented between one another, by providing insight to others who share different values and experiences, and by placing yourself in someone else's shoes for once.

Works Cited

1. Appiah Kwame Anthony. 'Making Conversation and the Primacy of Practice'. Emerging, Barclay Barrios, Bedford St. Martins,2016, pp 45-52.
2. Youtube: (“Black Protester Hugs A Nazi And Asks Why Do You Hate Me?” 0:29)
3. Bennett, James, editor. “New York Times.” 18 Sept. 1851.
4. Rachel Garett. “EarthSky Voices”: “Why the Amazon is burning?”. 27 August 2019.
5. Michael Barbaro. “The Daily”. January 2017