Islamic Philosophy & Theology
Ash‘arī, Māturīdī, and al-Bāqillānī traditions; causality, divine attributes, and the question of free will.
Academic Profile
Nazif Muhtaroğlu
Research Scholar · Brandeis University
A scholar working at the intersection of Islamic philosophy and theology, philosophy of mind, early modern thought, and artificial intelligence. Two decades of inquiry into occasionalism, causality, and the question of free will.
01 · About
Academic Life
Nazif Muhtaroğlu received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Kentucky in 2012 with a dissertation entitled “Islamic and Cartesian Roots of Occasionalism.” He completed his M.A. and B.A. at Boğaziçi University, and was awarded the Associate Professorship by the Turkish Council of Higher Education in 2021.
Throughout his career he has held research and teaching positions at Harvard (NELC), Boğaziçi, Bahçeşehir, Mimar Sinan, and Yale. As of 2026, he serves as Research Scholar in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He is the founder of the International Society for the Study of Occasionalism.
In 2023 he received the Necati Öner Award for Service to Philosophy from the Turkish Philosophical Society.
02 · Academic Positions
Appointments
- 2026 → Brandeis University Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies · Research Scholar
- 2024–2026 Yale University Department of Philosophy · Associate Research Scholar
- 2022–2023 Harvard University Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations · Research Scholar
- 2019–2022 Mimar Sinan University Department of Philosophy · Lecturer
- 2015–2022 Bahçeşehir University School of General Education · Lecturer
- 2014–2016 Boğaziçi University Department of Philosophy · Research Fellow
- 2012–2014 Harvard University NELC · Post-Doctoral Fellow
03 · Research
Areas of Specialization
The work brings together four major axes: causality debates in classical Islamic kalām, early modern thought represented by Descartes and Malebranche, contemporary philosophy of mind, and the philosophical problems of artificial intelligence.
Occasionalism
A comparative study of occasionalist traditions in Islamic and Western thought; al-Ghazālī, Malebranche, and the dialogue with modern science.
Philosophy of Mind & AI
Artificial intelligence, free will, and human nature: a Māturīdite engagement with contemporary cognitive science and neuroscience.
Early Modern Philosophy
Descartes, Malebranche, and Leibniz; laws of nature, causality, and the contribution of Islamic thought to the Cartesian tradition.
Philosophy of Religion
The existence and uniqueness of God, divine simplicity, the problem of evil; a dialogue between analytic philosophy of religion and the kalām tradition.
Critical Thinking
Interdisciplinary critical thinking and public philosophy; the book Three Aspects of Reason and the Logos Criticos channel are products of this work.
Occasionalism
Causality Reconsidered
For over two decades, occasionalism has stood at the centre of the work: the doctrine that God is the sole true causal agent in nature, defended in different forms by al-Ashʿarī, al-Ghazālī, al-Bāqillānī, the late Ottoman theologians, and by Malebranche in the Cartesian West. The research treats it not as a historical curiosity but as a live position in dialogue with contemporary philosophy of science, free will debates, and the philosophy of artificial intelligence.
International Society for the Study of Occasionalism
Founded by N. Muhtaroğlu: the first international academic society dedicated to gathering scholars from Islamic and Western traditions around occasionalist questions.
occasionalism.com →Three companion books
A trilogy spanning English and Turkish: a major edited volume on the global state of the field, and two anthologies that bring the foundational primary sources into Turkish for the first time.
- Occasionalism Revisited (Lockwood Press, 2nd ed., 2025)
- Vesilecilik · Birinci Kitap (Küre, 2024)
- Vesilecilik · İkinci Kitap (Küre, 2024)
Key peer-reviewed studies
Recent AHCI-Q1 articles examine the doctrine in dialogue with Hume, with neuroscience, and with the late Ottoman occasionalists who first read modern science through a kalāmic lens.
Ibn Sīnā and al-Ghazālī on Causality as Necessary Connection, and Occasionalism Theology and Science · 2025 AHCI · Q1 Akkirmânî's Occasionalist Approach to the Neuroscientific Research on the Human Will Religions · 2024 AHCI · Q1 Engaging Jeffrey Koperski's Decretalism: Is Occasionalism Really Avoidable? Religious Studies · 2024 AHCI · Q1
“What we call necessity in nature is, on closer inspection, the regularity of divine custom, open to revision, open to reason, never reducible to brute mechanism.”On the kalāmic conception of causality
05 · Programs & Lectures
Public Programs
Beyond the printed page, the inquiry extends into televised panels, long-form YouTube conversations, and a running public channel that brings kalāmic thought to a wider audience.
Logos Criticos
@logoscriticos
A long-running YouTube channel in Turkish, dedicated to critical thinking, logic, and philosophy of religion — bringing academic philosophy to a public readership.
Open on YouTube ▸"The Existence of God and Other Deities"
Closer To Truth · Global Philosophy of Religion Project · University of Birmingham
Watch on YouTube ▸ 06 · Books
Authored & Edited Volumes
Author
Free Will and Artificial Intelligence
A Māturīdite Perspective
Palgrave
Forthcoming · Palgrave
Free Will and Artificial Intelligence
A monograph that reframes the question of free will in AI debates through the Māturīdite kalām tradition. Under contract with Palgrave.
Available at
Editor
Occasionalism Revisited
New Essays from the Islamic and Western Philosophical Traditions
Lockwood Press · 2nd Ed. · 2025
2025 · Lockwood Press · 2nd Ed.
Occasionalism Revisited
An expanded second edition gathering contemporary readings of occasionalism across the Islamic and Western traditions; three chapters by the editor.
Available at
2022 · Bilge Kültür Sanat
Aklın Üç Yüzü
A Turkish philosophical study examining critical, multifaceted, and innovative modes of thinking, written for academic and public readers alike.
Available at
2024 · Küre Yayınları
Vesilecilik · Birinci Kitap
A Turkish anthology of core texts on occasionalism from the Islamic intellectual tradition with critical introductions.
Available at
2024 · Küre Yayınları
Vesilecilik · İkinci Kitap
A Turkish anthology covering occasionalist debates and critical responses in the Western philosophical tradition.
Available at
2026 · Doruk Yayınları
Çağdaş İslâm Düşüncesi
An edited volume on contemporary Islamic thought within the Philosophy of Science series of Doruk Publishers.
Watch program ▸ Available at
Hover to pause · drag to browse
Further Edited Volumes
Collaborative edited volumes and critical editions beyond the authored works.
2010 · Springer
Classic Issues in Islamic Philosophy and Theology Today
An edited volume on classical questions of Islamic philosophy and theology addressed to contemporary readers across epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of religion and value theory. IPOP Series, Vol. 4.
Available at
2014 · Springer
The Logos of Life and Cultural Interlacing
Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology in Dialogue · Vol. 7
A cross-cultural encounter between Tymieniecka’s Logos of Life phenomenology and Islamic philosophy, with contributions in metaphysics and comparative philosophy. IPOP Series, Vol. 7.
Available at
2020 · Çizgi Kitabevi
Kavâidü’t-Taḥavvülât fî Ḥarekâti’z-Zerrât
Parçacıkların Hareketlerindeki Dönüşümün İlkeleri
A critical Turkish edition of Ali Sedad Bey’s late Ottoman treatise on kalāmic atomism and modern physics; prepared from the original Ottoman manuscript.
Available at
2026 · Palgrave · Islam & Science
Principles of Transformation in the Motion of Particles
Muslim Theology and Modern Science
The English edition of Ali Sedad Bey’s treatise: a bridge between late Ottoman kalāmic atomism and modern physics, with full editorial introduction, translation, and annotation.
Available at
06 · Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles & Chapters
Peer-Reviewed Articles · International AHCI
- Ibn Sīnā and al-Ghazālī on Causality as Necessary Connection, and Occasionalismdoi.org/10.1080/14746700.2025.2514311
- Guided Theistic Rationalism: Al-Ashʿarī's View on Faith and Reasondx.doi.org/10.1353/pew.2025.a949968
- Engaging Jeffrey Koperski's Decretalism: Is Occasionalism Really Avoidable?doi.org/10.1017/S0034412524000635
- Akkirmânî's Occasionalist Approach to the Neuroscientific Research on the Human Willdoi.org/10.3390/rel15091134
- How Much Should or Can Science Impact Theological Formulations? An Ashʿarī Perspective on Theology of Naturedoi.org/10.31820/ejap.18.2.9
- Al-Bāqillāni's Cosmological Argument from Agencydoi.org/10.1017/S0957423916000047
Book Chapters
- Scientific Advances in Understanding Human Nature: An Islamic Occasionalist Perspective
- Qādī ʿAbd al-Jabbār
- Late Ottoman Occasionalists on Modern Science
- Ashʿarites, Cartesians and Occasionalism
- Al-Māturīdī's View of Causality
- God's Existence and The Uniqueness Claim
- Ali Sedad Bey's (d.1900) Kavâidü't-Taḥavvülât fî Ḥarekâti'z-Zerrât
- The Christian and Islamic Roots of a Holistic Rhetoric
- An Occasionalist Defense of Free Will
- A Linguistic Analysis of the Omnipotence Puzzle
Turkish Publications
- Plantinga and Ashʿarites on Divine Simplicity
- Tanrı'nın Tekliği'ne Dair Tartışmalar
- Tanrı'nın Tekliğine Dair Modal Argüman
- What is Wrong with Concurrentism?
- An Occasionalist Approach to Miracles
- Nicolas Malebranche
- Ebu'l-Hasan El-Eş'arî
Book reviews and public-facing essays
- Mehmet Bulgen, Criticisms of Atomism in Classical Islamic Thought. Cumhuriyet Theology Journal, 22(1): 743–746. 2018.
- Khaled El-Rouayheb, Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century. Nazariyat, 2(4): 193–197. 2016.
- Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi (ed.), Theodicy and Justice in Modern Islamic Thought: The Case of Said Nursi. Philosophy East and West, 62(3): 608–610. 2012.
- Hamidreza Ayatollahi, The Existence of God: Mulla Sadra’s Seddiqin Argument. Philosophy East and West, 58(2): 283–285. 2008.
- “Özel Adların Anlamı Hakkında Bazı Notlar”, Öncül Analitik Felsefe Dergisi, 2021.
- “Taş Paradoksu: Gazzâlî ve Aquinas Üzerinden Bir Çözüm Önerisi”, Öncül Analitik Felsefe Dergisi, 2021.
- “Kategori Hataları, Paradokslar: Husserl ve Russell”, Öncül Analitik Felsefe Dergisi, 2021.
07 · Talks
Selected Presentations
- 2024
"Causality as a Necessary Connection, Occasionalism and A Response to Hume"
Global Philosophy Group · Yale University · October 2024
- 2024
"AI and Free Will: Kalāmic Perspectives"
Arabic Philosophy Group · Yale University · February 2024
- 2023
"AI and Free Will: Ashʿarite and Māturīdite Kalām Perspectives"
5th Annual Islamic Philosophy Conference · Harvard University · December 2023
- 2022
"Qādī ʿAbd al-Jabbār's View of Science"
4th Annual Islamic Philosophy Conference · Harvard University · December 2022
- 2022
"Revisiting Kalam Foundationalism in Response to Contemporary Challenges"
Imagining Islamic Epistemology for the 21st Century · Cambridge Muslim College · July 2022
- 2021
"The Existence of God and Other Deities" · Invited Panel
Closer To Truth · The Global Philosophy of Religion Project · University of Birmingham · June 2021 · YouTube
- 2018
"An Analysis of Strong Artificial Intelligence in terms of Two Ontologies"
AI Conference · Cambridge Muslim College · September 2018
- 2017
"The Māturīdite View on Human Will and Contemporary Cognitive Psychology"
Maturidi Conference · Kalam Research and Media · Amman · October 2017
- 2016
"The Islamic Background of Descartes's Laws of Nature"
Workshop: Early Modern Laws of Nature · Oxford University · July 2016
- 2013
"Al-Māturīdī's View of Causality"
Occasionalist East and West Conference · Harvard University · May 2013
Conferences organized
- "Occasionalism and Theories of Causality", Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, 2-7 Haziran 2015. (co-organized with Chryssi Sidiropoulou)
- "Occasionalism East and West", Harvard University, 4-5 Mayıs 2013.
- "Poetic Expressions: Saying the Same in Different Ways", Harvard University, 13-14 Ağustos 2009. (co-organized with A.-T. Tymieniecka)
- "Islamic Philosophy and Theology Today", University of Kentucky, 28-30 Eylül 2007. (co-organized with Oliver Leaman)
08 · Teaching
Courses Taught
Bahçeşehir University
2015–2022- Logic I / Critical Thinking
- Modern (Symbolic) Logic
- Classical Logic
- Islamic Philosophy
- Philosophy of Religion
- Ethics
Mimar Sinan University
2019–2022- Medieval Philosophy II: The Islamic World
- Medieval Philosophy I: The Christian World
- Philosophy of Religion
Boğaziçi University
2013–2015- Ghazalian Synthesis
- The Cartesian Tradition
- Main Intellectual Traditions in Islam
University of Kentucky
2007–2012- Introduction to Logic
- Introduction to Philosophy
- Ancient–Medieval Philosophy
- Asian Philosophy
Thesis Supervision
- Zahra Karandish. A Critical Assessment of Hume's and al-Ghazālī's Views on Critique of Causation. M.A. Thesis · Boğaziçi University, 2018. (co-chair)
- Ahmet Halil Oğuzhan Gül. Leibniz's Criticism of Occasionalism and a Response through a Reconstruction of al-Ghazālī's and Malebranche's Arguments. M.A. Thesis · Boğaziçi University, 2019. (co-chair)
09 · Awards & Affiliations
Recognition & Leadership
Awards & Fellowships
- 2023 Necati Öner Award for Service to Philosophy · Turkish Philosophical Society
- 2014–16 TÜBİTAK BİDEB-2232 Research Fellowship
- 2014–15 Kalam Research & Media Center / John Templeton Foundation · Book Writing Grant
- 2015 Kalam Research & Media Center / John Templeton Foundation · Conference Organization Grant
- 2013 Harvard Philosophy Dept. & Science, Religion and Culture Program · Conference Support
- 2011 University of Kentucky Graduate School Academic Year Fellowship
- 2007 University of Kentucky Commonwealth Research Award
Founding Roles & Affiliations
International Society for the Study of Occasionalism
An international academic society dedicated to the study of occasionalism.
occasionalism.com →Logos Criticos
A YouTube channel producing Turkish-language academic content on critical thinking and philosophy.
YouTube · @logoscriticos →Yapay Zekâ Politikaları Derneği (AIPA)
An academic association working on artificial intelligence policy.
aipaturkey.org →APPA Philosophical Counseling
Certified philosophical counseling, American Philosophical Practitioners Association.
10 · Contact
Contact & Profiles
For academic collaborations, publication invitations, conference calls, and consultation requests.
Brandeis e-mail nazifm@brandeis.edu Brandeis University
Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Lown 211, MS 054 · 415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Lown 211, MS 054 · 415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02453, USA