Catherine Wilson

Catherine Wilson is a distinguished philosopher currently serving as Visiting Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She previously held the Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen (2009) and the Anniversary Professor of Philosophy at the University of York (2012). Her academic journey includes studies at Yale, Oxford, and Princeton, with fellowships at institutions like the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

Wilson’s research focuses on the history of philosophy, particularly the Enlightenment and early modern Europe, spanning epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics. Her work explores Kant’s philosophy as a reaction to 18th-century naturalism, evolutionary ethics, and the intersection of science and morality. She also investigates aesthetics, including neuroaesthetics and evolutionary approaches to art.

Her publications include Leibniz’s Metaphysics (1989/2015), The Invisible World: Philosophers and the Microscope (1995/2009), and Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity (2008). She co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy in Early Modern Europe (2011). Her recent work, such as Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy (2022), examines the anti-metaphysical shift in Enlightenment thought.

Wilson’s scientific awards include fellowships at prestigious institutions. She has presented extensively at international conferences, such as the Brian O'Neil Memorial Lectures and Durham University’s Integrated History and Philosophy of Science Conference, addressing themes like Kant’s rejection of British moral philosophy and Locke’s material mind theory.