Abstract
The progress of globalisation has put pressure on societies to render a variety of modifications resulting in a wide range of negative effects today. One could therefore argue that the need to envision a new social framework is increasing; however, such an attempt has so far not evolved to any notable degree. Focusing on cosmopolitanism as an idea with a potential to be a new framework, this paper will show that cosmopolitanism is a concept with actuality; however, there are certain difficulties in externalising and realising cosmopolitanism. In recent years, cosmopolitanism is more actively debated mainly in Europe, as if in response to the advancement of globalisation. The reality in Japan, however, is that other than in the field of global justice under political philosophy, the discussion has not significantly advanced, particularly in the field of sociology. Therefore, as I summarise the cosmopolitanism discussions related to the political transformations, I will first articulate its actuality. Setting the cosmopolitanism theory of Ulrich Beck with a descriptive characteristic against the global justice theory with a normative characteristic, I will discuss its details and implications. Second, in order to further externalise cosmopolitanism, I will examine the criticism directed toward many cosmopolitanism theories, namely, ‘the theory presumes as if there is already a self-evident global solidarity’. I will present the need to consider solidarity by dividing it into ‘weak solidarity’ and ‘strong solidarity’, pointing out the fact that it is hard to build ‘strong solidarity’ even though ‘weak solidarity’ can be observed at the global level, and explain the difficulties and possibilities in realising cosmopolitanism.
