Contemporary discussions on cosmopolitanism are often based on older assumptions that have become invisible or hard to unearth. This volume explores the idea of kosmopolis by placing it into different historical, philosophical, social, and political contexts. By bringing together different views on and aspects of cosmopolitanism, the volume aims at contributing to new understandings of kosmopolis and the resulting cosmopolitan ideal, and of the fears this concept may generate. The nine contributors discuss kosmopolis within the contexts of philosophers such as Heraclitus and Kant, the thoughts and texts of the nobility, intellectual thoughts from the Enlightenment, contemporary political institutions, and grass root cosmopolitanism. The intent is to illustrate how the meaning of »cosmopolitanism« is influenced not only by its history but also by its specific contexts.