On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness (Thinking in Action) - Softcover

"powerful and provocative...important, urgent, and demanding in... the best sense....These essays masterfully articulate the impossibilities of forgiveness and hospitality, but their real achievement lies in understanding this impossibility as inseparable from political and pragmatic exigencies." -Modern Language Notes ""On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness clearly illustrates Derrida's remarkable and influential mode of approaching concepts at their limits.." -MLN 116 #5, 12/01 "This is clearly an important series. I look forward to reading future volumes." -Frank Kermode

One of the world's most famous philosophers, Jacques Derrida, explores difficult questions in this important and engaging book. Is it still possible to uphold international hospitality and justice in the face of increasing nationalism and civil strife in so many countries? Drawing on examples of treatment of minority groups in Europe, he skilfully and accessibly probes the thinking that underlies much of the practice, and rhetoric, that informs cosmopolitanism. What have duties and rights to do with hospitality? Should hospitality be grounded on a private or public ethic, or even a religious one? This fascinating book will be illuminating reading for all.