Publisher : Kimé -

French

2025
200

Dialogue for a More Livable World: Toward an Ethics of Encounter

How can we live in a climate of mistrust, trapped in identity-based withdrawal, and paralyzed by an uncertain future? On what basis can we open new paths to ease suffering—perhaps even reenchant our lives? The answers cannot be reduced to a handful of pithy formulas or vague, well-meaning ideas. As the authors of this book demonstrate, these answers emerge through patient dialogue and the productive friction of encountering otherness. Engaging in creative tension, open to having their assumptions challenged, they reject the simplistic and damaging constraints that are paralyzing our societies today. The questions of translation and cross-cultural dialogue that thread through this three-way conversation reflect the inherent plurality of human experience. Yet recognizing difference and the diversity of forms of life should not limit our horizons; on the contrary, it should expand our capacity to imagine new possibilities. Through genuine and authentic dialogue, the authors tirelessly explore ways to think through and articulate the conditions for a more livable world.

Serge Gougbèmon, PhD in philosophy, was director of REPHI (Réseau Philosophique de l’Interculturel) from 2010 to 2017 and now heads the Centre Damien de Molokaï, an educational center and laboratory for integral ecology in Benin.

Ali Mostfa, a linguist who holds a PhD in English language and cultures, a member of the research unit CONFLUENCE: Sciences et Humanités (EA 1598), is Associate Professor with habilitation (HDR) at UCLy’s Faculty of Letters and Languages.

Fred Poché, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at UCO’s Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, received the Jean Finot Prize from the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques for Blessures intimes, blessures sociales (Cerf, 2008).

Comment vivre dans un contexte marqué du sceau de la méfiance, engoncé dans les replis identitaires et tétanisé par un avenir incertain ? Sur quelle base ouvrir d’autres chemins propres à apaiser les souffrances, voire à réenchanter nos existences ? Les réponses ne se résument pas en quelques formules lapidaires, ni en de vagues idées généreuses. Comme s’efforcent de le faire les auteurs du présent ouvrage, elles se tissent, patiemment, dans la confrontation des idées et le frottement avec l’altérité. Partenaires dans une pensée en tension, ouverts à ce qui risque de déplacer leurs représentations, ceux-ci refusent les enfermements simplistes et mutilants qui sclérosent aujourd’hui nos sociétés. Si les questions de la traduction, du croisement des cultures, des langages et des langues tressent cet échange à trois voix, cela provient sans doute du fait que notre humanité se manifeste toujours dans la pluralité. Cependant, le constat des différences et de la diversité des formes de vie ne doit pas boucher l’horizon des possibles mais, au contraire, permettre de rouvrir les imaginaires. Dans une confrontation sincère et authentique, il s’agit alors, ici, de chercher sans relâche les voies propres à penser les conditions d’un monde plus habitable.

Serge Gougbèmon, docteur en philosophie, directeur du REPHI (Réseau Philosophique de l’Interculturel) de 2010 à 2017, assure aujourd’hui la direction du Centre Damien de Molokaï, œuvre éducative, laboratoire de l’écologie intégrale au Bénin.

Ali Mostfa, linguiste, docteur en langue et cultures anglophones, membre de l’unité de recherche CONFLUENCE : Sciences et Humanités (EA 1598), est maître de conférences (HDR) à la Faculté des Lettres et Langues de l’UCLy.

Fred Poché, Professeur émérite de philosophie à la Faculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales de l’UCO, est le lauréat du prix Jean Finot de l’Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, pour Blessures intimes, blessures sociales (Cerf, 2008).

Resources of this researcher

publication

Dialogue for a More Livable World: Toward an Ethics of Encounter

How can we live in a climate of mistrust, trapped in identity-based withdrawal, and paralyzed by an uncertain future? On what basis can we open new paths to ease suffering—perhaps even reenchant ou...

article

Muslim worship in France: is the State-led reorganization underway?

In this article published on February 26, 2025, on The Conversation, Ali Mostfa analyzes the evolution of the Forum of Islam in France (Forif), created in 2022 to replace the French Council of Musl...

article

Redefining Qurʾānic Hermeneutics: Muḥammad ʿĀbid al-Jābrī and Nasr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd’s Humanistic Interpretations

This article presents the innovative endeavor by Muḥammad ʿĀbid al-Jābrī and Nasr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd in interpreting the Qurʾān through a humanistic lens. Their approach marks a pivotal shift, viewing ...

publication

Religions put to the test by freedom of expression

“In the republican context, freedom of expression involves all the players in society and mobilises a wide range of intellectual resources. What then are the conditions that foster it while r...

publication

Islam & Otherness. Proceedings of the Pluriel congress in Beirut

Edited by Michel Younès, Ali Mostfa and Roula Talhouk “In a contemporary context marked by a growing tendency to lock oneself into oppositional logics, reflection on otherness in Islam opens ...

article

Making religion online: the case of Islam

Islam in the digital age is becoming an inescapable reality in the lives of believers, thus introducing a new modality in the understanding of Islamic faith. From now on, the sacred text, rituals, ...

article

From Islamic Reference to Conservative Pragmatism – The Sinuous Paths of the Moroccan JDP Discourse

"The relationship between the political and religious fields in Morocco is generally based on tactical choices and pragmatic issues, often far from simple ideological orientations. In this context,...

publication

Authority in Islam. What regulation? Proceedings of the symposium.

“It is often said: “”no clergy in Islam””. In the absence of a hierarchical and universal magisterial authority, what are the instances and figures that serve as regul...

article

Religious Radicalism. The Challenges of an Ill-Defined Concept in Europe

Ali Mostfa, professor of linguistics and discourse analysis at the Catholic University of Lyon, analyses the semantic shifts about the notion of religious radicalism, particularly since the Septemb...

Resources related toPhilosophy

videos

Spiritual eroticism and erotic spirituality in Sufi mystical thought

Paper presented at the 5th international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Isla...

videos

Defining the beautiful in Islam: between submission to and transgression of ethical norms

Paper presented at the 5th international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Isla...

videos

The gnostic constitution of aesthetic values in Ibn ʿArabī

Paper presented at the 5th international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Isla...

videos

Art in the face of authoritarian discourse: the contribution of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd

Paper presented at the 5th international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Isla...

videos

Beyond the licitness of ecstasy: the poetry of samāʿ as an aesthetic and cognitive experience in al-Ghazālī

Paper presented at the fifth international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Is...

videos

Ghaḍḍ al-baṣar as the paradigm of an Islamic aesthetics: interpretations and perspectives

Paper presented at the fifth international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Is...

videos

Ethics and aesthetics in the thought of Abū Ḥayyān al-Tawḥīdī (d. 414/1023)

Paper presented at the 5th international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Isla...

videos

Annihilation in beauty, subsistence in ethics: the unity of unveiling and ethics in Ibn ʿArabī

Paper presented at the fifth international congress of the University Platform for Research on Islam (Pluriel), held in Cordoba from 10 to 14 February 2026 on the theme "Ethics and Aesthetics in Is...