Kant’s Cosmopolitan Relationality: Global Shape of the Earth, Hospitality, and Cosmopolitan Right

Abstract This article interprets Kant’s political cosmopolitanism through the metaphor of globus terraqueus . This spatial metaphor has important consequences for Kant’s political philosophy, namely, to highlight Kant’s cosmopolitan relationality. The spherical shape of the earth is not only a feature of this planet; rather it creates the conditions for the emergence of increasingly larger communities. This relational reading of Kant’s cosmopolitanism is supported by reading the notion of unsociable sociability as grounding relationality in the components of agency, conflict, and vulnerability. Thus, especially through the notions of universal hospitality and cosmopolitan right, Kant’s cosmopolitan relationality is useful for reinterpreting his political cosmopolitanism.