Emerging from the cave: pluriversal cosmologies and the imagination of world orders

Abstract

Inspired by Plato’s allegory of the cave, this article stages a dialogue between the Light Chaser, a former cave dweller who enters the world of illumination, and the Seer of Orders, who guides him through different cosmological visions of world order. It examines how cosmologies shape premodern international orders through a comparative inquiry into three civilizational traditions: the European natural-theological mechanical cosmology, the Dharmic cosmologies of South and Southeast Asia, and the Chinese correlative-ethical cosmology. The article proposes a macro-analytical framework of Cosmology–Polis–World Order to explain the generative mechanisms through which cosmologies influence world order. Cosmology is conceptualized as an ontological order-imaginary composed of five analytical dimensions: fundamental constituents; overarching spatial structure; operative mechanisms and ordering principles; temporal structures and rhythms; and the ideal relationship between human beings and the cosmos. Polities selectively imitate these dimensions, producing distinct political forms whose interactions generate plural world orders. The article argues that contemporary mainstream Western international relations theories, often presented as scientifically neutral and universal, are themselves shaped by the European natural-theological mechanical cosmology. They therefore represent one historically specific cosmological imagination rather than a universal theory of world order. By recovering the cosmological foundations of different world orders, this article challenges Western-centrism and opens a pluriversal perspective for reimagining global order.