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Faculty
Douglas R. Campbell
Title
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Department
Philosophy
Contact Info
Biography
I came to Alma College in 2023 from the University of Toronto, where I had been an assistant professor in the teaching stream in the Department of Philosophy for a few years. I received my PhD from the University of Toronto in 2020. I was attracted to Alma on account of its small class sizes and the opportunity to have a lot of one-on-one contact time with students. I am very happy to say that I made the right choice!
Educational Background:
My educational background is pretty much exclusively in philosophy: I have a BA in philosophy from McGill and then my MA and PhD are in philosophy from the University of Toronto. While at U of T, I was a part of the Collaborative Specialization in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, which did a wonderful job of inculcating in me knowledge of ancient Greek. I also have multiple teaching certificates from U of T’s Center for Teaching Support and Innovation.
My Expertise
My passion and my primary research agenda concern the same subject: Plato. Currently, I am writing a book on his biological system in the Timaeus. The Timaeus has been the focus of the vast majority of my research and publications, and I love the richness and breadth of the dialogue. This long-standing research interest of mine has been an opportunity to delve into the ancient world in a way that I did not expect to when I began investigating ancient philosophy: for instance, at the heart of the dialogue and of Plato’s understanding of human beings are profound reflections on the nature of dreams and divination that I never expected to encounter in my career as a researcher. Ultimately, I am fascinated with the largest questions that the humanities deal with, such as what it means to be a human being, what our relationship is to God and to the natural world, and what it means to be a good person. The Timaeus is concerned with all of these things. I must mention that I also have a second research agenda on the ethics of social media. This interest came about on account of compelling discussions with students, and I have published articles about what I found myself often defending in conversations with students.