Timothy Murphy

Tim has a B.A. in philosophy from Baylor University, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Minnesota.  He has taught previously at Fort Hays State University in Kansas and at SUNY Potsdam.

Tim’s main area of research interest is in the philosophy of logic and mathematics, but much of his more recent teaching has been in ethics, and he is particularly interested in the intersection of those fields.  His work in mathematics focuses on the nature of mathematical truth, and investigates ways of understanding how the mind-independence of such truths might ultimately rest on essential facts about possibility and necessity.  His more recent research has concerned how far this sort of justification might extend to fields other than mathematics, most specifically to metaethical realism (i.e., the idea that there are moral facts). 

Tim also works on bioethics, with a particular focus on research ethics and on moral and conceptual issues in psychiatry and the mental health professions.