Stoic Cosmopolitanism Part 2: The Chronopolis
In part one of this essay we explored how ancient Stoic Cosmopolitanism could be divided into three broad, but radically different approaches — the Cosmopolitanisms of independence, interdependence, and parallelism.
In the first two broad ideas of cosmopolitanism, we have one that is about personal liberation from the indifferents of the polis, the tribe, the state, the family, and so on. The second actually utilises these models of kinship to broaden the recognition that all fellow human beings are equal and worthy of respect.
In the last, we have a more nuanced, metaphorical idea — that to act with goodness through these institutions and beyond them is to behave as if one lives lawfully in the cosmopolis since it is the universe itself and it is governed by God. All are equal in the world that doesn’t recognise names.
Two Kinds of Equality
But there is a tension between the cosmic egalitarianism of Cynic-Stoic cosmopolitanism — the recognition that we are equal in the grand scheme of things, and human-sanctioned egalitarianism — to help others in the community toward equality of opportunity or outcome.
You can think of this as spiritual equality and material equality. The latter depends on the universalism of the former, but the former can stand…
