Cosmopolitinism Paper

I found the first part of this book rather hard to understand. The first chapter started out talking about a man named Sir Richard Francis Burton. This man traveled all over the world and spoke a number of different languages. The first chapter of the book was a little hard to understand due to some of the words used. If I could not understand one of the words used in the book, I would use a dictionary to find out what the word meant. I had a hard following where Appiah was going a number of times in these chapters. Appiah started out talking about what Cosmopolitanism was, and then in the following chapters he starts talking about Positivism. I found myself attempting to figure out if I would consider myself as a Cosmopolitan. Based on my beliefs and what Appiah stated in chapter one I thought I would consider myself a Cosmopolitan. Then in chapter two Appiah starts talking about Positivism. I believe everyone was a right to live. I also believe people should have the best life possible. Based on the way I was brought up in my views this means living in a Democracy. There are also a number of traditions around the world that I feel should be stopped as mentioned in the book. However apparently according to Appiah to be a true Cosmopolitan, I would need to believe people around the world have the right to live according to their beliefs. I would not want to change the way different cultures are if I was a true Cosmopolitan.

I started thinking about the United States Government and if the government would be considered Cosmopolitan. According to Appiah, the U.S. Government wanting to make Iraq a Democracy would mean we are not Cosmopolitan. I started thinking about all the aid we have given countries in the past. How this would surely make the Government Cosmopolitan, however the government does believe Democracy is the best form of government and attempts to spread it to other countries. So for us to be considered Cosmopolitan in the eyes