Dialogue between East and West… Details of the sessions of the Riyadh International Philosophy Conference 2025

Riyadh Philosophy Conference

in a session "“Philosophy and its Centrality in History,” in which Ali Al-Rammah, Mai Al-Nahedh, and Youssef Al-Mubarak participated, and was moderated by Muhammad Al-Omar, presented critical approaches that focused on the foundational role of rationality and practicality in reading the movement of civilizations and their conflicts. The proposal restored the influence of Hegel as one of the most important influencers in building systems of historical thinking.

An alternative reading was also presented through Karl Popper’s criticism of absolute centralism, who called for openness to the other and recognition. Error, and adopting external criticism as a condition for liberating thought from… "Civilized prisons.”

Cognitive construction

The session confirmed that humanity is moving towards greater equality and harmony, and that the shift from "“Swords to Pens” reflects the transition of the conflict from demolition to cognitive construction.

The session also discussed the concept "The philosophical “non” opens the way for the production of knowledge by questioning axioms, in addition to the impact of the cognitive rupture on man’s relationship with the history of thought, and the connection of Greek philosophy to the roots of the first question about existence.

Eastern Philosophy

And in another session entitled "Eastern-Greek philosophy: sources, influence, and interaction.” With the participation of Al-Mabrouk Al-Shaibani Al-Mansouri, Hamid Al-Iqbali, Budur Al-Falih, and the management of Mashael Al-Hammad, the paths of mutual influence between the East and the West were reviewed, noting that recent studies have proven a clear return towards Eastern thought since the 1970s, in the context of criticizing Western modernity and reconsidering its cognitive foundations.

The session stopped at the impact of Ibn Sina, describing him as "“The Third Teacher,” and his contributions to reformulating the concept of existence in a new philosophical framework that gave him a wide presence in Islamic and Western thought.

Human Communication

The session also presented a deliberative reading of the dialogue in the Holy Qur’an as a foundational introduction to understanding and knowledge, stressing that the Qur’anic, prophetic, and patriarchal dialogues contributed to building sophisticated models of argumentative logic and the principles of human communication.

The session also touched on the theory of communicative action. And the principles of moral justice according to Aristotle, in addition to the theory of politeness as a cognitive framework that strengthens the human dimension of dialogue.

The session concluded by affirming that philosophical interaction between civilizations is a continuous movement that does not know one direction, and that philosophy remains a joint project in the search for truth.

Islamic philosophy

As for the session "“The Philosophical Structure and Cognitive Contributions of Islamic Philosophy,” in which Ahmed Al-Onaizan and Hessa Al-Mufarreh participated and was moderated by Eid Al-Juhani. It discussed the structure of Islamic philosophical thought and the limits of its influence in shaping modern philosophies.

The interventions focused on representations of evil as reflected in the narratives of Western literature, such as "1984” and"Brave New World” and"The Handmaid’s Tale,” and linked these texts to transformations of power, technology, and feminist discourse in modern moral thought.

Philosophical Problems

The session also presented Arab models such as "The cochlea” and"Mercury” and"“Utopia,” demonstrating the difference in the roots of philosophical problems between Arab and Western contexts.

In another axis, the session addressed the presence of Islamic philosophy in Western institutions, indicating that attention is still focused on major texts with little attention to the theological and fundamentalist heritage.

Global Philosophical Dialogue

It also presented a comparative approach between the doctrines of utility and duty, and discussed the possibility of building a normative theory inspired by Islamic jurisprudence balances ethics and consequentialism.

The session concluded by emphasizing that Islamic philosophy possesses cognitive tools capable of enriching the global philosophical dialogue, and that rereading the heritage with a modern philosophical approach is capable of providing qualitative additions to the fields of ethics, knowledge, and comparative studies.

The three sessions represented a broad intellectual panorama of the history of philosophy and its interactions, provided a contemporary reading of its paths, and highlighted the role that the Riyadh International Philosophy Conference plays in consolidating The Kingdom’s position as a global center for philosophical dialogue and knowledge production.