World Cosmopolitan Future

History is the background, the stage on which our lives take place. It is the time, the becoming, the flow of life, in which we bathe on a daily basis and we can never bathe twice in the same water, as Heraclitus wrote 2500 years ago.

This river has a source from which everything comes and a estuary to which it flows. The science of history, historiography, teaches us to know this source, as far as possible, on the basis of the documents we have received. But which science can teach us to know the estuary, which is not yet existant and of which, therefore, there is no document? This is where philosophy comes to our aid, for only philosophy can help us understanding this mysterious knowledge concerning the future: How can we guess and take the right steps if we do not know the goal to which these steps are supposed to lead?

The estuary of the river of life is the idea of this goal, its concept of what life must be. The idea of life, the idea of human community, that is the estuary. What kind of humanity do we want? Which kind of humanity do we think is the right one, the one that corresponds to our own concept, our own idea? If we do not answer this crucial question, i.e. if we do not position ourselves in such a way that with the philosophy of Plato, Hegel and their consequences we can certainly define the metaphysical-idealistic point of view of knowledge, we will never be able to determine the future in a reasonable, serious, wise way.

But the discourse on the future of humanity is nothing other than a political discourse, for politics this is the science that has the task of showing humanity the common goal to be achieved and the form of society suitable for achieving it. Only the answer to this question, therefore, permits a reasonable approach to politics, which is why, in the final analysis, as Plato made clear, philosophy in its essence is the true indispensable foundation of politics.

It is clear that the idea of human community can only be that of a unified management of the planet Earth, its resources, the care for the environment, the improvement of life conditions, the care for the weakest such as children, the elderly, the sick, etc. Caring for the natural environment and for those who really need it are certainly the two priorities of humanity. But it must also enable the ’strong’, those who are healthy at least at this particular moment in their lives and who have the energy and age to carry out major political, economic or scientific actions, to do so. The society of the future must therefore also be performance-oriented and promote achievement.

The idea of the political organisation of humanity seems to be a form of world state that takes care of the whole natural environment and makes sure that it is suitable for a healthy life of people. Additionally, it is a state that protects the weak and helps them but at the same time rewards and supports the strong.

If we now turn to the historical pyramid, as we have outlined in the previous section on history, we can place humanity at about three-quarters of the way, having largely left the prehistoric period, which was dominated by the multitude of unconnected and nomadic human communities, but not yet at the ultimate level of the world state. At present, there are about 200 states in the world but some of them are continental states and therefore already capable of uniting large parts of the land territory under a single legislative and organisational authority, while others are relatively small states that have not yet found their own way to unification in a larger continental state. The European states are on the right path towards this decisive historical step, others will certainly follow in the future (e.g. those in Africa).

A relatively near future, in which further continental or semi-continental states are realised or at least begin to be realised is conceivable and desirable. It is impossible to precisely name periods of time in which developments are made because technology has a profound influence on them, but we can name, for example, the time span of this century for the completion of the European state and possibly the beginning of the unification processes of other continental or semi-continental states, such as the African and South American states. What is important is that humanity works in this direction so that one day there will be only a few continental or semi-continental states and work can begin on unifying them into a single world state. Of course, it may also be that enormous environmental problems will make it necessary to create a supranational world authority quite soon, at least for some aspects of life.

Of course, it will take a lot of time until people come together, get to know each other, overcome initial prejudices and fears as well as linguistic and cultural barriers and finally, out of all this, the desire for cooperation and then unification will emerge. Before 1945 this happened violently, today, as we have seen, such processes can only take place through peaceful dialogue, that is, through wisdom and philosophy.

However, there are certain aspects of human life on Earth that cannot wait for such necessary times. Humankind should immediately produce the core of a world state, starting, for example, with the United Nations, which should mainly set itself the following goals and realise them:

1. to tackle the environmental issues decisively and without delay, following the advice of world-class specialists;

2. to solve the problem of hunger in the world;

3. to ensure that every child, regardless of where he or she was born, has a basic education that will one day enable him or her to participate actively in world society;

4. to fight diseases vehemently, prolong human life and improve the quality of life;

5. to peacefully intervene in all dangerous areas of the world and to create peace and dialogue where today war and total cultural division between neighbouring peoples prevails (e.g. the Middle East);

6. to demand a strong global disarmament and to use the money saved through this for points 2 and 3.

These six priorities must be tackled without delay by a world government, obviously composed of representatives of the approximately 200 existing states. This government should have authority and sovereignty, i.e. it needs to be able to decide on these points with an absolute majority and the decisions then need to be applied by the resulting minority states.

Since there is a clear discrepancy between continental or semi-continental states, whose representatives are obviously spokespersons for a large number of people, and small states, which often have a small population, it is necessary that jurists develop a fair criterion of representativeness within this world government.

Such a criterion can certainly not be that of victory in the last world war, as this would not be a philosophical criterion based on peace and therefore on the new world order introduced by the use of the atomic bomb, but a criterion relating to the old world, which solved disputes between states through violence and war.

In this new world government, there can be no actors with the right of veto against common decisions, but absolute legal equality between states: Each state will have equal rights and duties, even though the weight of votes varies according to the number of inhabitants. The only difference can be in the number of inhabitants and thus in the number of representatives: Of course, it cannot be that a tiny state like the Republic of San Marino has the same decision-making power as a semi-continental state like the USA, China or Russia. However, this has nothing to do with the economic and military power of the states or with the fact that they won or lost the last war, but only with the objective and scientific demographic data on the number of people living in them.  A state with many inhabitants will necessarily have a proportionally higher number of representatives or votes than a state with few inhabitants. This is simply adequate, that is to say, it is true. It is therefore an objective criterion, which can be shared by everyone, if they are genuinely interested in living together in a democratic way.

This seems to be the next basic goal of the development of humanity according to the historical pyramid, that should be achieved as soon as possible: the creation of a provisional world government, which will prepare the final one when the course of history will have reached the top of the pyramid. Such a government will have to tackle these fundamental issues with vigour and determination. The national states have to implement the decisions of this provisional government, otherwise they will have to be isolated from the international community because they do not cooperate in the peaceful shaping of human life on Earth.

A new world-philosophical party movement, the emergence of which cannot be postponed any longer, needs to promote the achievement of this interim goal. All those political forces, movements and parties who are concerned about the fate of humanity in different ways can and have to participate in this philosophical movement. The world-philosophical movement needs to be supranational, supra-ideological and supra-religious; it needs to bring together all those who have the fate of humanity at heart, not only that of their own people - beyond ideological, religious, economic and other differences.

If the environmental problem worsens, we will all be worse off, regardless of nationality, religion, wealth, age or other differences.

If a child somewhere on Earth is forced to work from an early age, cannot attend school or even dies of hunger or easily curable diseases, we cannot help but suffer for him or her as if it was our own child.

We as philosophically oriented people must identify our happiness with the happiness of all children in the world: We may only feel fully happy and satisfied when the last child in the world has enough to eat, can attend school and spend his or her childhood with the family and in a healthy environment. As long as this goal is not achieved, we must feel like we are at war. It is a philosophical war, the war for the well-being of all the children in the world. This should be the bond that unites us across all differences: This common goal shall give us the strength to create the new world in unity. If we always act together and in unity, we will be unbeatable and will win in the end sooner or later. But if we act as we do today - taking action while being fragmented in many movements - defeat is inevitable. The problems are gigantic and only a union of the spirits of good people can have any chance of success.

All those who feel this suffering, which we could call ’cosmopolitan suffering’, and all those who feel that they love humanity beyond all borders and differences, are called upon today to participate in this worldwide philosophical movement. Our consciousness of being rational human beings cannot continue to tolerate either the mute stupidity that threatens the natural foundations of life for the profit of a few, or the injustice due to the accidental fact of the place of birth.

Stupidity in treating the natural environment as well as economic injustice must be defeated and banished from planet Earth. From this platform a new, common philosophical world movement needs to emerge, which should strive to achieve at least this double political goal in the shortest time possible. It is too late to stand by and watch, but there is still time for all of us to come together and, each according to his or her abilities, work together for the ecologically sound and socially just world of tomorrow.

COSMOPOLITAN FUTURE OF THE WORLD - ROOMS AND INTERPRETATION

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