SACHI Annual Event 2014: Gandhi and the Political Enlightenment with Akeel Bilgrami

The political enlightenment of the West articulated ideals that had no substantial counterpart in the spiritual traditions of Asia according to this event’s featured speaker, Akeel Bilgrami, a leading philosopher and political and cultural commentator. Yet Gandhi, appealing precisely to those traditions, managed to construct a radical political philosophy. In what ways was Gandhi modern despite his explicit opposition to modernity? Is Gandhi relevant to our own time and politics? Dr. Bilgrami presents Gandhi's political philosophy to explore these questions and other contemporary concerns of religion, politics and culture. Immediately following the talk, University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks leads Dr. Bilgrami in a conversation about his work. Public reception to follow program.

Akeel Bilgrami currently holds the Sidney Morgenbesser Chair of Philosophy at Columbia University, where he is also a founding member of the Committee on Global Thought and the Director of the South Asian Institute. Bilgrami is a widely published author and public intellectual, writing on philosophy, politics, religion and culture with a special interest in Indian politics and history as well as the politics of the Islamic world.

Nicholas Dirks became the 10th chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley in 2013. A renowned historian and anthropologist, he is a leader in higher education and well-known for his advocacy for accessible, high-quality undergraduate education in the liberal arts and sciences, to the globalization of the university, and innovation across disciplines.