- Emailsimpson.1109@osu.edu
- Office
Room 5054 174 W. 18th St. Columbus, OH 43210
Bio
Dr. William M. R. Simpson is a philosopher and physicist who studies how human beings—as rational, embodied, social, and political animals—belong within the natural world described by modern science. His research and teaching span philosophy of science, philosophical anthropology, natural law, and political philosophy.
His work develops a neo-Aristotelian account of natural beings as unities of matter and form and applies it to questions about quantum physics, mind, human nature, and social life. He is the author of Hylomorphism (Cambridge University Press, 2023) and co-editor of A History of Natural Law: From the Ancient World to the New Aristotelianism (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). His research has received the Cardinal Mercier Prize in philosophy and an Expanded Reason Award for interdisciplinary work in the sciences and humanities.
Before joining Ohio State, Dr. Simpson was an Assistant Professor (Research) of Philosophy at Durham University, where he held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. He previously held research fellowships at the University of Texas at Austin and at Cambridge, and visiting appointments at Oxford. He remains a Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, and a Research Associate at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge.
He holds a PhD in philosophy from Cambridge, a PhD in physics from St Andrews, an MPhil degree in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge, and an MPhys in Physics and Mathematics from St Andrews.
Areas of Expertise
- Human nature and human flourishing
- Natural law
- Philosophical anthropology
- Metaphysics
- Philosophy of science (physics)
- Philosophy of mind
- Science and religion
- Social and political philosophy.
Courses Taught
- CIVICLL 3212 — Christianity, Government and Law
- CIVICLL 2250 — The Soul and the City