His Highness the Aga Khan: a cosmopolitan ethic “balances rights and duties”

“A cosmopolitan ethic is one that welcomes the complexity of human society. It balances rights and duties, freedom and responsibility. It is an ethic for all peoples, the familiar and the Other, whether they live across the street or across the planet.”
His Highness the Aga Khan’s Address to both Houses of the Parliament of Canada in the House of Commons Chamber, Ottawa
February 27, 2014
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN

“In an increasingly cosmopolitan world, it is essential that we live by a “cosmopolitan ethic,” one that addresses the age-old need to balance the particular and the universal, to honour both human rights and social duties, to advance personal freedom and to accept human responsibility.

It is in that spirit that we can nurture bonds of confidence across different peoples and unique individuals, welcoming the growing diversity of our world, even in matters of faith, as a gift of the Divine. Difference, in this context, can become an opportunity – not a threat – a blessing rather than a burden.”
His Highness the Aga Khan
at the 88th Stephen Ogden Lecture at Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island, USA
March 10, 2014
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN

“….what we must seek and share is what I have called “a cosmopolitan ethic,” a readiness to accept the complexity of human society. It is an ethic which balances rights and duties. It is an ethic for all peoples.”
His Highness the Aga Khan
LaFontaine-Baldwin Lecture
Toronto, Canada
October 15, 2010
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN

“The world is becoming more pluralist in fact – but not in spirit. “Cosmopolitan” social patterns have not yet been matched by what I would call “a cosmopolitan ethic.”…. Instead of shouting at one another, our faiths ask us to listen – and learn from one another. As we do, one of our first lessons might well center on those powerful but often neglected chapters in history when Islamic and European cultures interacted cooperatively and creatively to realize some of civilization’s peak achievements.”
Graduation Ceremony of the Masters of Public Affairs (MPA) Programme at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po)
Paris, France
June 15, 2007
Speech at Press Centre, AKDN