“One World, One Dream” was the motto for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. These words are certainly arresting. Whatever their intent, there is no doubt their message is profoundly different from a slogan like “Eight Billion Individuals, Eight Billion Dreams”—numbers which approximate the current population of the world. These contrasting notions are offered as a thought-provoking beginning for this discussion of philosophy and world order. My point of departure is Henry Kissinger’s implicit plea in his monumental World Order for some contributions of contemporary philosophy that might facilitate “world order in our time”. The matters under consideration are both subtle and…