Starting from the premise that no one can engage in dialogue without taking serious risks, we can understand why they are worth taking. The risk of misunderstanding, for example, is inherent in all dialogue, as is the opposite situation: the risk of being understood too clearly. This requires prudence, as well as limited consensus. Another risk associated with dialogue is its relationship with the internal differences of the parties involved in the dialogue. One conclusion we can draw from a careful analysis of these risks is that we must move away from the tendency to speak in totalizing terms of entire societies, traditions or civilizations as if they had “essentially debatable concepts.” In Europe, all these risks are real and we cannot avoid them, but rather manage them productively

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