Critical Times, Cosmopolitan Justice and the Responsiveness Rhetoric

Several crises render our times inter alia “difficult”, “viral”, “testing”, and “uncertain”. A related rhetoric of responsiveness to crises becomes globally dispersed and is commonly used by researchers, intellectuals and global publics. In this article, after some preliminary comments on the responsiveness to our times, I critique the “uncertain/critical times” responsiveness rhetoric and explore some of its prescriptions for a better future. I single out indicative pros and cons of this rhetoric and discuss the related politics of exalting recommendations such as “rethinking” the world of today within the confines of social and democratic justice. My argument is that, when meta-theoretically investigated, the ambiguities of the responsiveness rhetoric and its neglect of cosmopolitan justice raise concerns about how this rhetoric frames crises.