What Prospects for a Shared Common Humanity?

This paper adopts the style of conversation between an enquirer and a response from an Ismaili Muslim. Its basic premise is that global problems require to be addressed by shared conversation between the social sciences and philosophical/theological perspectives. The era of strict separation between religious and secular worldviews is incapable of rising to the challenges before a world characterised by multiplicity, plurality and difference. In post-secularist perspective, the religions of the world are presented with opportunities for bringing forth spiritual wisdom, so long as a shared practical language, and the willingness to set aside inherited antagonisms in relationships between them, can be agreed. Concepts such as Ubuntu, Satyagraha and Agap ē provide spiritual values and principles that lift problem-solving to a level more satisfying than instrumental approaches by themselves.