John Evan Simpson was born in Sacramento, California. He graduated from Norte Del Rio High School, received a B.A. from Amherst College and a Ph.D. from Duke University. He was a professor in the Philosophy Department of McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) for many years and served there as Dean of Humanities before moving to Memorial University (St. John’s, Newfoundland) as Vice-President (Academic), where he is now Honorary Research Professor. He has published four books and some forty articles on moral and political philosophy, philosophical psychology and other subjects under the name Evan Simpson. Although retired from teaching and administration, he retains his academic interests and enjoys running, gardening and writers festivals.