Dr Adam Willows - University of Winchester

We encourage our staff and students to be enterprising in all they do and we maintain close ties with regional employers

View content

Biography

Dr. Adam M. Willows is a theologian and philosopher specialising in ethics, philosophical theology and interdisciplinary engagement with the sciences. After completing his PhD at Durham University he worked at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Leeds before joining the University of Winchester as a Senior Lecturer in 2018. His work focuses on the nature of moral character, agency and virtue ethics.

Adam's work emphasizes the potential for philosophical and theological traditions to interact with each other and other disciplines - especially the sciences - to mutual benefit. His doctoral thesis was a study of how theological thought on the virtues is well placed to respond to philosophical and psychological criticisms of virtue ethics. His doctoral supervisors were Professors Chris Insole and Mark McIntosh.

On completing his doctorate in 2015, he joined the University of Notre Dame (USA) as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Human Distinctiveness project, a collaboration between evolutionary anthropologists and theologians studying human nature and human development. His work there focused on the role of exemplars in moral learning, aiming to show how a wide variety of exemplars fictional characters, children, animals, and whole communities can contribute to a more complete account of moral development.

In 2017 he moved to the University of Leeds, where he joined the international St. Andrews Science-Engaged Theology project. There he worked with Professor Mark Wynn on the coherence between moral rationalism and the philosophy and science of action, a project which continues in his current research. In September 2018 he took up the post of Senior Lecturer at the University of Winchester. He teaches in the Institute for Value Studies and the Department of Philosophy, Religions and Liberal Arts.

Areas of expertise

Moral Character
Virtue Ethics
Agency and Moral Action
Interdisciplinary Engagement with the Sciences

Publications

Open access versions of most of my publications are available. Click the title to read online, or access the version of record via the DOI.

A Defence of Theological Virtue Ethics, Bloomsbury Series in Philosophy of Religion (London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming).

'Good, Actually: Aristotelian Metaphysics and the Guise of the Good', Philosophy 97.2 (2022), 187-205. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031819121000425.

'Natural Love: Aquinas, Evolution and Charity’, The Heythrop Journal, 62.3 (2021), 53545. https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.12665.

‘Two Perspectives on Animal Morality’ (co-authored with Marcus Baynes-Rock), Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 53:4 (2018) 953-970. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12464.

‘The Role of Non-Human Exemplars in Aquinas’, New Blackfriars 99 (2018), 332-345. https://doi.org/10.1111/nbfr.12274.

‘My Good, Your Good, and the Good: Conceptual Mapping and Altruism’, in Theology and Conceptual Mapping, ed. Erin Kidd and Jakob Rinderknecht (Lanham: Fortress, 2018).

‘Change and Constancy in the Nature of Wisdom Over Time’, in The Evolution of Human Wisdom, ed. Celia Deane-Drummond and Agustin Fuentes (London: Lexington Books, 2017).

‘Supplementing Virtue: The Case for a Limited Theological Transhumanism’,Theology and Science 15:2 (2017), 177-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2017.1299375.

‘Stories and the Development of Virtue’, Ethics and Education 12:3 (2017), 337-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2017.1356664.

‘Augustine, the Origin of Evil, and the Mystery of Free Will’, Religious Studies 50 (2014), 255-269. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412513000401.

Return to the Staff Directory

Research interests

Current Research

Emotion, Reason and Moral Action

A great deal of philosophical and especially theological thought about human nature holds that we are rational creatures. Great thinkers such as Aquinas and Kant treat reason as central not just to our own nature and actions but also to our relationship with God and the rest of creation. Philosophical critiques and recent research in psychology and neuroscience appears to cast doubt on this, suggesting that our apparent rationality is a 'veneer' that hides the unconscious processes and emotional or situational pressures which truly lie behind our judgements and actions.

Adam's work seeks to engage with the philosophy and science of moral action to show that this apparent conflict is nothing of the sort. Philosophical, theological and scientific investigation each provide valuable and often mutually supporting insights into our moral natures. Together they suggest that our rational agency is not at odds with emotion or instinct - in fact it may even depend on them.

Developing Technologies

Adam's ongoing work explores the way developing technologies can impact or provide insight into our moral natures and agency. He is particularly interested in the way that our brains interact with and are affected by digital technology. At present he is working on a project with Dr. Nora Kreft on the ethics of care robots. They are exploring the potential risks of robots that 'mimic' relational behaviour, and whether/how these robots can be used in a way that promotes rather than harms the flourishing of both carers and cared-for.

Adam is also interested in the agency and moral status of Artificial Intelligence and the way this relates to the moral agency of humans responsible for the development of AI.

Research Supervision

Adam welcomes enquiries from prospective research students, especially in the areas of ethics & moral philosophy or theology, philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, and the relationship between philosophy, theology and the sciences.