Conversation across boundaries: Poiltical theory and global diversity

In his essay 'The Voice of Poetry in the Conversation of Mankind', Michael Oakeshott defended a mode of discourse not subservient to science or techni cal utility and hence not premised on rational argumentation or strategic m anipulation. This essay explores the relevance of his model for a global or cosmopolitan discourse conducted along non-hegemonic lines. The basic thes is is that an Oakeshottian conversation of humankind has to steer a path be tween a hegemonically imposed universalism and an array of self-enclosed et hnocentric particularisms. The first part of the essay examines some of the major obstacles facing such conversation in the political arena, with spec ial attention to the effects of Realpolitik and political 'Orientalism'. Ne xt, the essay turns to a prominent conception of cosmopolitan discourse, ar ticulated by Habermas in his 'The Unity of Reason in the Diversity of Its V oices'. By way of conclusion, the paper offers an alternative model of cosm opolitan interaction, inspired at least in part by Oakeshott's linkage of c onversation with inter-human friendship.