The Cosmopolitan Identity in the Era of the Knowledge Society and the Internet

The communication and internet revolution has had a great influence on time and space contraction, and virtual space has become a platform for intellectual encounters beyond borders. Nowadays, in the time of the knowledge-based society and new communication technologies, the opening of formerly closed borders between “us” and the “others,” and, in consequence, the possibility of creating cosmopolitan identities in virtual space seem to be important problems. Ethical cosmopolitanism should become a determining condition for creation of such identities due to its claim that all people in the world should be treated as equals, regardless of their race,gender, set of beliefs, religion, or the place of their dwelling.The aim of the paper is to present the recent discussion on cosmopolitan identity in the era of the knowledge society, as well as to introduce the concept of strangeness and depict the sociological background and the current evolution of creating the collective identities. The main scope of the article is the discussion of conditions for creating the cosmopolitan identity in the internet space.