ABSTRACT

In this chapter, I conclude by summing up the ethical worldview of secular cosmopolitanism. This worldview imagines a form of human flourishing that is hospitable, tolerant, peaceful, kind, generous, gracious, and compassionate. To understand these values, we do not need religion. And yet, these values are central to the world’s religious traditions. But we can agree to these sorts of values without appeal to any specific religion tradition. These are values for a pluralistic world in which there are many religions, including nonreligion. These values are grounded in pragmatic recognition of our shared vulnerability, our fragility, our finitude, and the increasingly obvious fact that human beings across the globe share a need for care, compassion, and love. Religious traditions teach this. But the general truths of ethics are obvious whether one is religious or not.