Kwame Anthony Appiah's Changing Our Minds

In Kwame Anthony Appiah’s “Changing Our Minds”, he proposes “conversation” is a method that can create cosmopolitanism all around the world, which means connecting all people despite their beliefs basically removing boundaries symbolically not literally. Appiah made many claims and gave many examples that made it easier to visualize how conversation could help conflicts between people. Different countries have different cultures, although many of them may have similar practices they may do these practices for different reasons. This may lead to splits and arguments between people. Conversation to Appiah is the main salvation for this problem. There are also societies that are divided by opinion that may be a potential problem, which can be …show more content…
Yes, new traditions are made or old ones updated to fit the modern world. For example, the old way of giving birth was natural. Now-a-days women have the option of getting a C-section or getting an epidural to feel less pain. This is a development that changed the traditional child birth people once saw as the best and only way. Also, women can now get pregnant by artificial insemination in a doctor’s office or get a surrogate to hold their eggs and then the baby. Before if a woman could not get pregnant, then that’s it, she just couldn’t have a baby of her own. It was seen as a good thing to be fertile but now there are many different options, not many are traditional. These examples show the changes and that things will continue to change. With the continuous changes people’s perspectives change. This is seen in a lot of places, but not every place due to differences in development. Appiah taking this idea of change states that, “The recent history of America does show that a society can radically change its attitudes—and more importantly, perhaps, its habits—about these issues over a single generation. But it also suggests that some people will stay with the old attitudes, and the whole process will take time” (81). This shows how time takes its effect on cultures and the way things are done. There are many undeveloped countries that choose to continue to do things the way they have always done them, that can seem …show more content…
For example, Appiah states that, “…disputes about abortion and gay marriage divide Americans bitterly most of all because they share a society and a government” (80). People who have different moralistic views on abortion will protest creating tension. That tension will lead to new views on abortion that may make more people go against abortion. As well as gay marriage, where more people may be becoming for gay marriage instead of against it because of the spread of the word. People spreading their views may change the mind of others views, allowing for a change in the society. There are laws based on abortion and gay marriage in the United States. Some people see these things as pro-choice others see it as the wrong thing to allow--no choice. Having these different points of views divided by pretty much half the people can cause a lot of problems for a society. Conversations between these people with different views can help them resolve the problem. That is why there are restrictions with abortions, such as you can remove the baby before a specific time during the pregnancy. Also, gay marriage was slowly becoming legal throughout the states. This complied with what people have wanted for some time. This was all concluded through debates based on the public’s conversations that gave insights to view. Conversation was necessary to conclude the decisions based on these two