Ibrahim Ozdemir

Ibrahim Ozdemir is a professor of philosophy at Uskudar University, Istanbul, Turkey. He is the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He was the founding President of Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep (2010-2014).
His Ph.D. dissertation was entitled: The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude Towards Nature, the first dissertation by a Muslim philosopher on environmental philosophy and ethics. It offers a short but engaging study of Islam and ecology, contributing most substantially to environmental discourse.

His books include Rumî and Confucius on Meaning of Life, Amazon: New Jersey, 2020; The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude Towards Nature, 2nd edition, Insan Publications: Istanbul, 2008, and Globalization, Ethics and Islam, editors: Ian Markham and Ibrahim Ozdemir, Aldershot: Ashgate. 2005.

His diverse background as a researcher and teacher includes environmental philosophy and ethics, ecology and religion, practical ethics, philosophical counseling, critical thinking, and Islamic philosophy. He noted in a new book, Contemporary Thought in the Muslim World: Trends, Themes, and Issues by Carool Kersten (Routledge Press, 2019), as “the most prominent Islamic environmentalist in Turkey for many years.” 

 He gave lectures and thought courses as visiting professor at Harvard University (1998), Hartford University, Hartford Seminary (2001-2003), and Abo Akademi University, Turku-Finland (2018-2020).

He was a member of the drafting team of the Islamic Declaration for Global Climate Change (2015). (https://unfccc.int/news/islamic-declaration-on-climate-change).

 Presently, he was assigned as a core and draft team member to write and finalize Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth to be presented to the UN. The document will give an Islamic outlook on the environment to strengthen local, regional, and international actions that combat climate change and other threats to the planet. (https://www.unep.org/al-mizan-covenant-earth).