SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2023

This senior thesis examines the conception of philosophies of history in East and West through two representative thinkers: Kant and Walī Allāh. It explores the role of the individual in history and the tension between freedom and necessity. The historical background of both thinkers, their metaphysics, and moral philosophies, are also explored in an attempt at elucidation of their complex ideas about progress in history and the role of the individual. In doing so, the author wishes to bring into conversation two great thinkers of the 18th, one in the Indian Subcontinent and the other in Continental Europe. By exploring the ideas of the two thinkers, the author tries to explore commonalities and divergences of thought in Europe and South Asia. Needless to say, the treatment of Kant is derivative of earlier studies and scholarly work in particular by Yiramyahu Yovel, and Paul Guyer. However, the author has done much original work on Walī Allāh since secondary literature on the subject is quite limited in the English language.