Prof. Akeel Bilgrami got a first degree in English Literature from Elphinstone College Bombay and then went as a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford University where he studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago. He is the author of the books Belief and Meaning (Blackwell), Self-Knowledge and Resentment (Harvard University Press) and Secularism, Identity, and Enchantment (Harvard University Press) and is currently writing a book on Gandhi's Philosophy as well as a longer work on the nature of practical reason.

He teaches regular courses and seminars on a variety of topics including The Philosophy of the Mind, Language, Issues in Politics and Rationality, and Religion and Politics in a Global Context. At Columbia University, he has been the Chairman of the Philosophy Department from 1994-98, the Director of the Heyman Centre for the Humanities from Dec 2003-2010, and the Director of the South Asian Institute from 2013-2016. He was elected to be a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library, held the Radhakrishnan Chair in India, visiting professorships at Oxford University and Yale University, and has been the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, National Endowment of the Humanities, as well as the Luce Foundation. He is also the President of the Trustees and the Executive Editor of The Journal of Philosophy. He lives with his wife and daughter in New York City.