There are many agreements across the so-called "world religions," at a certain level of abstraction. But when it comes to applying them in concrete situations they may lead to incompatible decisions. As an example, some people think that Christian ideas… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
There are many people of cosmopolitan temperament who are not from the elites of their societies or the world; and while, for a variety… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
Cosmopolitans begin, I think, with a sense of one thing we all certainly share, which is our fallibility. Nobody has reason to be confident… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
In life, the challenge is not so much to figure out how best to play the game; the challenge is to figure out what… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
Conversation doesn’t have to lead to consensus about anything especially not values; it’s enough that it helps people get used to one another — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
“It's important to understand that while honor is an entitlement to respect--and shame comes when you lose that title--a person of honor cares first… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
A value is like a fax machine: it’s not much use if you’re the only one who has one. — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
I've long had the idea that the factors that are most important in determining what we believe, how we live, and what we accomplish are matters of accident. That is, we did not choose where to be born, who our parents would be, or what we would look like. Yet those factors play an enormous role in almost everything about… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share
When philosophers talk about reason they often have in mind Having been in the business of philosophy more than half my life, I have learned that reason doesn't change many minds. But there's a more ordinary sense of resonableness, which involves not just logic but a sensitivity to other peoples real concerns, a desire to understand, even when you don't… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share
I started philosophy looking for answers. But along the way I came to prize exploring the questions. Progress in philosophy consists, I think, in… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
“This is, of course, an easy Berlinian riposte. Start with some graceful hand waving about incommensurability; declare that nothing could reconcile these great goods;… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
Conversations...begin with the sort of imaginative engagement you get when you read a novel or watch a movie or attend to a work of… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
I favor a form of cosmopolitanism that takes nations very seriously, particularly because of the role of national law in sustaining or, unfortunately, undermining… — Kwame Anthony Appiah Copy Share Image
