Raja Bahlul is a Professor and Head of Philosophy Program at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, and Editor-in-Chief of Tabayyun, for Philosophical Studies and Critical Theory, published by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. He completed his undergraduate studies in Philosophy and English at the American University of Beirut, and his PhD in Philosophy at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. He wrote a dissertation about Sameness, Similarity and the Identity of Indiscernibles.
Before joining the Doha Institute, Raja Bahlul taught Philosophy at several universities, including Yarmouk University (Jodan), Indiana University-Purdue University (USA), Birzeit University (Palestine), United Arab Emirates University (UAE), and Qatar University (Qatar). He played an active part in developing the MA Program in Democracy and Human Rights at Birzeit University, and the PhD Program in Society, Language and Technology at United Arab University.
His early work focused on Identity and Indiscernibility, with reference to contemporary discussions of Leibniz and Aristotle. At a later stage he began to study Islamic Kalam and Philosophy (Free Will, Causality, and Universals). His interest in Islamic Philosophy expanded to include contemporary Islamic thought, with special reference to the impact of modernity on Arab-Islamic societies. His major interests in contemporary Islamic Social and Political Thought include Constitutionalism, Democracy, Secularism, Law, and Morality. He has also published articles on Forgiveness, Forgiveness in Islamic thought, Action, Emotion, and Intersubjectivity. Currently he is working on the following subjects: Democratic Political Culture, Religion, Democracy and Human Rights, and the Cognitive Theory of Human Rights.