About

William Simpson is a Civitas Research Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin in the College of Liberal Arts. His research focuses on metaphysics of science, philosophy of physics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion. The information provided indicates his academic affiliation and areas of philosophical inquiry, emphasizing his engagement with foundational questions in science and philosophy.

Research topics

• Philosophy
• Epistemology
• Theology

Selected publications

• Quantum Powers and Primitive Ontology

  Philosophy Compass · 2025-08-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT This article surveys recent work on primitive ontology (PO) approaches to quantum mechanics, focusing on proposals that seek to integrate this approach with the metaphysics of causal powers. PO approaches aim to provide a clear metaphysical picture in which the world consists of local entities such as particles, matter density fields or flashes, and these entities compose macroscopic objects, such as scientists and their measuring devices. To account for the behaviour of these local entities, some PO theories invoke the metaphysics of powers. After motivating PO approaches and contrasting them with wave function realism, I consider the development of power‐based POs, contrasting them with both Humean POs and POs which invoke primitive laws. I explain how different power‐based frameworks address key quantum phenomena, and I survey some difficulties, including the Problem of Holism, of small worlds and of top‐down causation. Such challenges are best confronted, I suggest, by drawing on Aristotelian hylomorphism: If powers are grounded in forms that unify physical systems, then power‐based POs can accommodate holistic and context‐sensitive behaviour.

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• Book review

  The Philosophical Quarterly · 2025-08-26

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• The Two Faces of Semi-Physicalism

  Scientia et Fides · 2025-10-31

  articleOpen access

  This paper responds to Halvorson’s reflections on hylomorphism by addressing its quantum application (Koons and Simpson) and contextually emergent physics (Ellis and Drossel). It also critiques physicalist interpretations of quantum mechanics and argues for the fundamental nature of thermodynamic phenomena. Koons, Simpson, Ellis and Drossel defend hylomorphism as a framework that challenges dogmatic semi-physicalism. They examine causal pluralism, semantic indeterminacy and the limited validity of quantum mechanics, emphasising the role of micro and macroscopic elements in shaping a consistent worldview.

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• Incorporating Case Studies into a Material Science Course at the United States Coast Guard Academy

  2025-04-02

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Century Global EconomyEngineering educators are recognizing the value of case studies in preparing students to take on the complex challenges faced by engineers in the field across disciplines.Students in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) are required to complete a common engineering material science course.To better prepare graduates for their future role as engineers and Coast Guard Officers, the course has been evolving to incorporate material science case studies from the Coast Guard and other outside sources.This paper focuses on strategies for incorporating various case studies into the course to help cadets appreciate the importance of material science issues in the Coast Guard and in other venues.The course is normally taken in the sophomore year at USCGA, providing an excellent opportunity to get students interested in real world engineering issues early on in their education.By engaging Coast Guard engineers with current and recent field experience, numerous case studies are being developed that cover a wide range of material science applications.The goal is to have cases that highlight Coast Guard issues from the fields of marine safety, naval engineering, and aviation which are the most common career paths for graduates in the Mechanical and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering majors.In addition, material science case studies from outside the Coast Guard will be examined to ensure that graduates have an appreciation for national and global material science challenges.By examining failures as well as successes, students will have an opportunity to consider the consequences of poor decision-making and will be able to explore ethical considerations.As case studies are incorporated, tools are being developed to assess the impact of this educational approach on student learning and motivation.

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• Why Middle-Sized Matters to Science and Religion

  Scientia et Fides · 2025-10-31

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  This special issue explores both the metaphysical and theological significance of “middle-sized things” — everyday objects, persons, and sacraments — in light of developments in contemporary science and philosophy. Against prevailing neo-Humean and microphysicalist backdrops, where only microphysical entities are taken as fundamental, contributors interrogate the ontological reality and causal powers of the macroscopic domain through engagements with quantum physics, biology, the metaphysics of substance, and sacramental theology. Essays range from arguments for Aristotelian hylomorphism and critiques of reductionism to narrative theories of identity and teleological accounts of divine action. Together, they examine whether middle-sized entities can be causally efficacious, metaphysically basic, and theologically significant.

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• The Cosmos as a World City: A Hylomorphic Foundation for Civic Renewal

  Religions · 2025-07-30

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This paper contends that the West’s civic crisis is, at root, a cosmological crisis: civic renewal requires metaphysical repair. It is insufficient to endorse virtue ethics and demand civic virtues without a deeper account of reality that can sustain them. What is needed is a cosmology—one informed by contemporary science—in which nature, personhood, and political community are meaningfully situated within an ordered whole. Drawing on the Platonic isomorphism between soul, city, and cosmos, I outline a hylomorphic framework with the potential to integrate key elements of neo-Aristotelian, Stoic, and Thomist metaphysics with developments in contemporary physics. Against the dominant atomistic and holistic paradigms, I argue that hylomorphism offers a more adequate account of personhood, the polis, and the cosmos itself as an intelligible whole.

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• David Charles, <i>The Undivided Self: Aristotle and the Mind-Body Problem</i>

  Ancient Philosophy Today · 2024-10-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Prime Matter and Modern Physics

  Ancient Philosophy Today · 2024-04-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Why middle-sized matters: Quantum realism, minds and the Problem of Macro-Objects

  Journal of Physics Conference Series · 2024-10-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The Problem of Macro-Objects concerns how three-dimensional, middle-sized objects, such as scientists and their measuring devices, can exist in a quantum world. This paper discusses the problem for wave function realism and the primitive ontology approach to quantum mechanics, focussing on Alyssa Ney’s recent two-stage solution, in which macro-objects are functionally reduced to micro-objects and micro-objects are parts of a whole in which they are grounded (the wave function field). It raises metaphysical difficulties with this proposal which a hylomorphic account of wholes may be able to address, noting possible implications for one’s philosophy of mind depending on one’s preferred solution to the Measurement Problem.

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• Cosmopsychism and the Laws of Physics: A Hylomorphic Perspective

  Journal of Consciousness Studies · 2024-10-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  I outline a hylomorphic account of physical reality in which the cosmos as a whole has mental properties which explain its nomological order. According to this theory, the cosmos is directed in its temporal development toward certain ends or goals which it intends, and these ends are immanent to the cosmos rather than being imposed upon it. My object in doing so is to argue that, contrary to Sean Carroll (2021), a view of physical reality as having intrinsically mental aspects need not induce any modifications of the known laws of physics nor violate 'causal closure' under physical laws. Rather, this soft form of naturalism, which includes final causes within nature, provides a foundation for the laws of physics that is lacking in Carroll's hard form of naturalism, which excludes mind from fundamental reality. I propose a trilemma for Carroll in which he should either: abandon naturalism, by admitting that the laws of physics are imposed by a divine mind; abandon realism, by conceding that 'laws' are constructed by human minds; or embrace cosmopsychism, by acknowledging that the cosmos as a whole instantiates a mind. I argue that cosmic hylomorphism, which links consciousness with intentional cognition, is preferable to non-hylomorphic versions of cosmopsychism, which tend to prioritize consciousness over intentionality.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Stanley H. Schuman

  10 shared

• Ulf Leonhardt

  Weizmann Institute of Science

  6 shared

• S. A. R. Horsley

  6 shared

• John Burton

  New York Hospital Queens

  4 shared

• Miles E. Vance

  Corning (United States)

  4 shared

• Donald D. Tresch

  Medical College of Wisconsin

  4 shared

• Walter F. Love

  Corning (United States)

  4 shared

• Robert C. Koons

  The University of Texas at Austin

  4 shared