Aziz Ismail

Aziz Ismail

Aziz Ismail, who studied literature as an undergraduate psychoanalysis as a postgraduate, completed a doctorate in Islamic Studies at The University of Edinburgh. He thereafter re-trained in philosophy, at the Universities of London the University of Chicago, with the aim, among other things, at an integration of   his diverse intellectual interests and education. His areas of research within philosophy include the philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of mind, Hegel,  Freud, and the philosophy of psychiatry.

 He began his teaching career at the University of Nairobi, where he was a lecturer in philosophy as well as Islamic Studies. Subsequently, he held posts in the USA, including a fellowship at the Centre for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University. Being dissatisfied with academic pursuits in the American setup without intrinsic connection to the practical concerns of communities, he accepted an invitation to the position of Dean at the institute in London founded by the Aga Khan for research and teaching along modern lines in Islam as well as relevant areas of the Humanities and Social Sciences aimed at community education in  Ismaili Muslim communities and beyond.

In this role, he devised a master’s programme jointly in Islamic Studies, now accredited by the University of London; curricula of a similar inspiration for schools in many countries in the developing world, and lectures and seminars for communities in western and developing parts of the world.

He is now retired and devotes himself to research and writing, at present being engaged in a work,  on the relation between biology and psychology in Freud’s theory of mental disorders.