ABSTRACT
In this chapter on terms and methods, I will present the conceptual and methodological basis of my investigation, beginning with my understanding of the concepts of conscience, modernity and authenticity I will also introduce the paired keywords of selfhood and otherness, communitarianism and universalism, as they have been used in recent debates about ethics and moral formation. After these terminological considerations, I will present the methodological perspectives of ‘conceptual history’ and ‘intertextuality’ which have informed my investigation of the Christian and Muslim history of ideas, and of the modern Muslim concept of
2.1 Terms and concepts
Conscience, and
In the article on ‘conscience’ in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Michel Despland writes:
On the interreligious scene today, it is to be wished that dialogue and encounter shall proceed from conscience. And the notion of conscience may well be-or become-part of the account that each will give to the other of his or her own humanity. Such meeting of consciences cannot occur without the labor of consciousness: each trying to communicate over a period of time what he is aware of.
