Global Justice and Our Epochal Mind

Global Justice and the Mind of Our Epoch explores the mind of our epoch, defined as the period since the Nuremberg Trial and the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. Xunwu Chen examines four defining ideas of this epoch—global justice, cosmopolitanism, crimes against humanity, and cultural toleration—as well as the relationships among these ideas. Chen argues that the mind of our epoch is the mind of humanity. Its world view, horizon, standpoint, norms, standards, and vocabularies are all embodied in human institutions and practices throughout the globe. Furthermore, our epochal mind has a dialectical relationship with particular cultures and peoples, bearing normative force. As a metaphysical subjectivity and substance, humanity is the source of all human values and defines what can and should be human values and virtues. Humankind, therefore, is a people with socio-political and legal sovereignty, sharing a common fate. This novel study brings a cross-cultural approach and will be of great interest to students and scholars of philosophy, political science, sociology, and the humanities more broadly.