Dialogue as Resistance to Western Metaphysics

Behind all its cultural, political and ethnic variety, I argue, the ‘West’ is founded on a single account of Being, according to which any being is composed of ‘form’ and ‘matter’, with matter dominating form. The West is thus founded on a writing of domination into the nature of being itself. One way to combat that is through various kinds of dialogue that are orientated, not merely to truth, but to freedom. I sketch out the basic forms of such dialogue and suggest that there is some hope that it will come to be employed by both Westerners and non-Westerners.