Souleymane Bachir Diagne about his book Universaliser

The concept of universalism, and its relationship with cultural pluralism, has been a central theme in Souleymane Bachir Diagne’s academic work as a philosopher, and in his public engagement and debates on this important subject. In this newest essay, Universaliser: L’humanité par les voies d’humanité, he argues that universalism can be conceived as a dialogue among different cultures in a way that recognizes and values these differences as equal contributions to the whole. No region in the world can claim to define universalism and impose its definition on the rest of the world.  Thinking about humanity as a whole is infinitely difficult, and it requires a philosophy of de-centering and the elimination of cultural hierarchies to forge together, as equals, a collective conception of the universal.

At a time when ethnonationalism, tribal identities, and the violent domination of some countries and peoples over others are rising all around us, Souleymane Bachir Diagne retains his faith in humanity and defends universalism as a collective project for all humanity.

Souleymane Bachir Diagne is Professor Philosophy and French at Columbia University. His research and teaching interests include the history of logic, history of philosophy, Islamic philosophy, African philosophy and literature, twentieth century French philosophy, and French and Francophone literature. Some of his many books include African Art as Philosophy: Senghor, Bergson, and the Idea of Negritude (2011); The Ink of the Scholars: Reflections on Philosophy in Africa (2016);  and Open to Reason: Muslim Philosophers in Conversation with Western Tradition ( 2018); En quête d'Afrique(s): Universalisme et pensée décoloniale (with co-author Jean-Loup Amselle) (2018); and Universaliser: L’humanité par les voies d’humanité (2024).

Mame-Fatou Niang is Associate Professor of French Studies, the Founder | Director of the Center for Black European Studies at Carnegie Mellon University, and an Artist-in-Residence at Ateliers Médicis. Her previous books include Identités Françaises (2019) and Universalisme, co-written with Julien Suaudeau (2022).

Thomas Dodman is Associate Professor of French and Director of the History and Literature Program at Columbia University. He is the author of What Nostalgia Was: War, Empire, and the Time of a Deadline Emotion (2018) and he coedits the journal Sensibilités: Histoire, critique & sciences humaines. 

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