49th ABS Annual Conference

Enrique Dussel argues that conquest and domination are foundational to Western thought and praxis. Dussel questions the widely held view that Western metaphysics begins with Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am”, proposing instead that the basis of Western metaphysics is the act of conquest - where one’s subjectivity is established through acts of domination. This panel will examine this “metaphysics of conquest” in the discourses on carceral logics and religious propagation. It will then explore responses to these themes within the Writings of the Bahá’í Faith, offering a view on how to move from domination to humility and service.