Cosmopolitanism in the Landscape of Modernity.

What is cosmopolitanism? In his lecture Galin Tihanov outlines the major junctures in the history of thinking about cosmopolitanism and examines the shifting definitions of the concept in the social sciences and the humanities. The relevance of the concept of ”world literature” is also addressed in this context. Furthermore, Tihanov poses the question of whether the genealogies of modern cosmopolitanism can be seen as a body of discourse and social practices. Locating the origins of the concept of cosmopolitanism in the political and aesthetic thought of the Enlightenment the lecture emphasizes the interdependency of cosmopolitanism and nationalism in the 20th century. Looking at the contemporary process of globalization Tihanov finally asks which functions discourses of cosmopolitanism have in modern European societies.

Galin Tihanov is Professor of Comparative Literature and Intellectual History and Co-Director of the Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures at the Unversity of Manchester.