Peter M. Simons, (born 23 March 1950) is a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
and a retired
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of philosophy at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
. He is known for his work with
Kevin Mulligan
__NOTOC__
Kevin Mulligan (born 23 June 1951) is a British philosopher, working on ontology, the philosophy of mind, and Austrian philosophy. He is currently Honorary Professor at the University of Geneva, Full Professor at the University of It ...
and
Barry Smith on
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
and the history of
Austrian philosophy
German philosophy, here taken to mean either (1) philosophy in the German language or (2) philosophy by Germans, has been extremely diverse, and central to both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from Gottfried Wi ...
. Since 2018 he is Visiting Professor at the
University of Italian Switzerland
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
.
Biography
Simons studied at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, and has held teaching posts at the
University of Bolton
, established = 2004 – gained University Status 1982 – Bolton Institute of Higher Education
, type = Public
, endowment = £160,000 (2009)
, administrative_staff = 700+
, chancellor ...
, from which he holds an honorary doctorate, the
University of Salzburg
The University of Salzburg (german: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university
A public university or public college is a univ ...
, where he is Honorary Professor of Philosophy, and the
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
. He has been President of the
European Society for Analytic Philosophy The European Society for Analytic Philosophy (ESAP) is a philosophical organization founded by Kevin Mulligan, Barry Smith, Peter Simons, Pierre Jacob, Diego Marconi, Francois Recanati, Marco Santambrogio, Andreas Kemmerling and Pascal Engel in ...
and is current director of the
Franz Brentano Foundation.
His research interests include
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
and
ontology
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
, the history of logic, the history of Central European Philosophy, particularly in Austria and Poland in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the application of metaphysics to engineering and other non-philosophical disciplines. He is the author or co-author of five books and over 290 articles.
Awards
* FBA: Fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
(elected July 2004)
* Member of
Academia Europaea
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
(elected 2006)
* Member of the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
(elected 2013)
* Foreign Member of the
Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...
(elected 2018)
Publications
* ''Parts. A Study In Ontology'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.
* ''Philosophy and Logic in Central Europe from Bolzano to Tarski. Selected Essays'', Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1992.
References
External links
Website of the Department of Philosophy at Trinity CollegePersonal webpageWebsite of the European Society for Analytic Philosophy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Peter
1950 births
Living people
20th-century British philosophers
21st-century British philosophers
Fellows of the British Academy
Alumni of the University of Manchester
Academics of Trinity College Dublin
Academics of the University of Bolton
Members of Academia Europaea
University of Salzburg alumni
Metaphysicians
Ontologists
Analytic philosophers