The Philosophical Significance of ‘ The Commons ’
Akeel Bilgrami (born 28 February 1950) is an Indian philosopher. He has been in the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University since 1985 after spending two years as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Bilgrami is a secularist and an atheist who advocates an understanding of the community-oriented dimension of religion. For Bilgrami, spiritual yearnings are not only understandable but also supremely human. He has argued in many essays that in our modern world, "religion is not primarily a matter of belief and doctrine but about the sense of community and shared values it provides in contexts where other forms of solidarity—such as a strong labor movement—are missing." He has been on the Humanities jury for the Infosys Prize from 2012, serving as Jury Chair from 2019.
What are ‘the commons’? Why are they constantly under threat? Are we looking in the right theoretical place for their survival? Akeel Bilgrami’s lecture will explore these questions with a view to uncovering the philosophical significance of the commons and its implications for law and norm and the nature of our deepest moral and political ideals.
