Wolff on Grounding Cosmopolitan Duties in Common Notions

FWF Individual Project (Grant DOI: 10.55776/PAT3743425)

Project leader: Dr. phil. Andreas Blank MA

Project start date: 1 October 2026

Project end date: 30 September 2030

Grant amount: €435,816

 

Project description:

The contemporary world sees the return to a view of international order as an expression of the right of the stronger. Political duties across national borders are acknowledged when they are based on international contracts. But what about the existence of such duties in cases where such contracts are absent or have been revoked? Cosmopolitanism is the view that such duties exist and that they derive from human nature. 

While cosmopolitanism has roots in antiquity, it became particularly prominent in the eighteenth century. While the Enlightenment tradition still leaves some traces in contemporary political thought, cosmopolitanism has become the object of severe criticism. It has been objected that it appeals only to elites and disregards the realities of the lives of those who do not belong to elites; that it is a way of disguising Western hegemony; that it overlooks the importance of national identities; and that it lacks the required emotional and motivational power. 

The project reads one of the most fully worked out versions of Enlightenment cosmopolitanism—Christian Wolff’s—against the background of these critiques. Wolff’s political philosophy deserves attention because it offers an answer to the view that cosmopolitanism runs counter to deeply ingrained beliefs about national identities and the role of violence in international politics. Wolff argues that these beliefs are in conflict with a large number of intuitions concerning morality and social life. The latter intuitions are what Wolff calls “common notions.” They are contents shared by many minds due to their shared experiences, and they are expressed in everyday language. Moreover, he argues that common notions should not be considered one by one; rather, they stand in complex logical relations to each other. This is why he holds that common notions form a system. This system provides a starting point for philosophical theory building and allows choices between theoretical alternatives. 

Grounding a conception of cosmopolitan duties in common notions thus offers a way to respond to contemporary criticisms of cosmopolitanism. If cosmopolitan duties derive from common notions, they can be understood by those who are not members of elites. Thinking in this way about cosmopolitan duties offers grounds for opposing Western hegemony. It shows why a rational interest in the well-being of one’s own nation has an instrumental role in fulfilling cosmopolitan duties. And it provides insight into the motivational power of cosmopolitan emotions.