Cities
Although I currently live in suburbia, a significant part of my soul rests in the city, downtown, in the thick of things. In French there is a lovely word for city-dwellers: les citadins. Naturally all urban centers come with flaws, which is why I moved to the outskirts of town, but the pulse and action of a metropolis are found on the pavement and in flashing windows, in restaurants and shops and crowds.
In larger cities, there is certainly diversity of every kind. While places like Montreal are made up of a mosaic of people, somehow the mix pales in comparison to a megalopolis like London or Paris or New York. In those towns, it feels like the world has converged, folding onto itself amid the architecture.
Kwame Anthony Appiah’s book, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, explores the philosophy of that convergence in a global setting. Born to a British mother and a Ghanaian father, he presently lives in the United States where he is a professor. While he presents no answers, he certainly poses questions, to do with nationality and nationalism versus greater humanity, conversation, cultural relativism, belonging, and more. I liked this book, as it sets the stage for great talks on these subjects. It’s a good read for 21st century philosophy classes.
On a more localized but related scale, there is the second book I read this week, on Canadian cities. So young by European standards, they have unique characteristics unto themselves. John Lorinc's The New City: How the Crisis in Canada's Urban Centres is Reshaping the Nation
Since my husband and I booked a trip to London for the fall, you will probably be hearing more about that city in the weeks to come. Two degrees in British history and I’ve never been. For shame!
Hooray for Autumn in the UK!
Posted by: Trish | July 03, 2006 at 12:06 AM