Members

Dr. R. Paul Thompson

Professor
University of Toronto

 

Dr. R. Paul Thompson is a Professor in the University of Toronto and hold appointments as Professor in The Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (also its Director), and in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Philosophy, and the Joint Centre for Bioethics. He has been a Vice-President of the University of Toronto (2002-03) and Principal and Dean of the University of Toronto at Scarborough (1989-2002). He received his Ph.D. in 1979 for his thesis, Genetic Explanation Schemes in Biology. He has held visiting professorial appointments at the University of California at Davis and the University of Guelph. He is the author of The Moral Question, The Structure of Biological Theories, is editor of Issues in Evolutionary Ethics and has published numerous journal articles on population genetics, mathematical modelling in biology, evolutionary theory, theory structure in biology, and ethics. From 1997 to 2005 he was a member of the Bayer Advisory Council on Bioethics and from 2001-2005 was a member of the Monsanto Biotechnology Advisory Council. He is President of the Green Door Alliance Inc. (a registered charity, dedicated to preserving agricultural land in Ontario) and the recently established the African Poverty Alleviation Fund. He is a Director of the Canadian Foundation for the Preservation of Chinese Cultural Heritage and Treasures.