Politischer Kosmopolitismus - Verantwortung, Praktikabilität und Menschenrechte

• Applicant: Dr. Henning Hahn
• Subject Area: Practical Philosophy
• Term: from 2011 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 206429714

The systematic aim of my project is to develop an approach which I call political cosmopolitanism. This approach is coined cosmopolitan since it defends a certain ideal of global justice; and it is political since it primarily reconstructs existing political responsibilities, i.e responsibilities one holds due to ones position in political processes related to basic societal rules.In detail I will make a conception of political responsibility explicit, which contrary to current alternatives enables us to ascribe positive duties of justice, to identify political addressees and to give content to these duties in light of a human rights approach to global justice. By interpreting the question of global justice in terms of political responsibilities for human rights, I intend to offer a theory that is both applicable to practical politics and justifiable across cultures. Having these methodological requirements in mind my approach will build on recent developments within the ongoing debate on global justice, such as:a) the reactualization of a conception of political responsibility (recently advanced by Iris Marion Young),b) approaches presenting certain versions of a genuine political cosmopolitanism (including: Seyla Benhabib, Rainer Forst, Thomas Pogge, or John Rawls),c) the general debate what a theory of justice is for (Amartya Sen) and, related with it, the current argument concerning the applicability of political philosophy (Raymond Geuss), andd) the recent success of political conceptions of human rights (as advanced by Jürgen Habermas, John Rawls, Charles Beitz, or Joseph Raz). The scholarship is to support the last phase of the project, in which I am invited to elaborate and to ultimately finish it in association with Thomas Pogge and as a member of the Global Justice Research Program in Yale.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Dr. Thomas Pogge