Karim Shoaib

Biography

Background

I am a PhD student in Philosophy with interest in Metaphysics and the History of Philosophy.

Qualifications

MPhil in Philosophy (Distinction), University of Cambridge, 2023

BA in Philosophy (First), University of Cambridge, 2022

Undergraduate teaching

Knowledge and Reality

Introduction to the History of Philosophy A

Research summary

I work on puzzles concerning the notion of a First Principle, Ultimate Reality, or God. Ultimate Reality lies beyond reason, overturning the aims of philosophy from explanatory system building to mystical ascent. I primarily study these ideas in the context of Greek philosophy (e.g. Plotinus) and Islamic philosophy (e.g. Ismailism).

Current research interests

Ancient Greek Neoplatonism. Islamic Philosophy (especially the Ismailis). Philosophy of religion. Metaphysics.

Past research interests

Kant, Wittgenstein

Organiser

Thinking About God: Historical Perspectives (2026)

See CfA: https://philevents.org/event/show/140130#:~:text=Historically%2C%20many%20philosophers%20have%20taken,in%20positive%20terms%20at%20all.

Papers delivered

'God’s Huwiyya in al-Kirmānī’s Rāḥat al-ʿAql', Annual Conference for the British Society for the History of Philosophy, King’s College London, 2026

'Does the One ‘Exist’?', Keeling Conference, University College London, 2026

'Acquaintance and Direct Reference in Ismāʿīlī Apophaticism', Acquaintance with the Ineffable, University of York, 2026

‘Affirming the Ineffable’, Helsinki Analytic Theology Workshop, University of Helsinki, 2026

'Plotinus and Modern Ontology', Young Scholars on Plotinus, University of Bern, 2025

'An Introduction to Transcendent Metaphysics in Late Antiquity’, Edinburgh PhilSoc, 2025

'God and the Limits of Language in Ismāʿīlī  Philosophy', Annual Conference for the BPPA, Queen's University Belfast, 2025

‘Are There Limits to Thought?’, Cambridge Graduate Conference, 2023

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