Professor Christopher Shields received his bachelor’s degree in English literature in 1979 from Bowling Green State University, where he also earned his M.A. in Philosophy in 1981. He furthered his philosophical studies at Cornell University and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 1984 and 1986 respectively. He first taught at Colby College (1986–88), then the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1988 to 2004 as Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor. He joined the University ofOxford in 2004 and is currently Professor of Classical Philosophy and Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall.

Professor Shields has held visiting positions at universities in the U.S.A., the U.K., New Zealand, and Germany, such as Visiting Fellow at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford (1992–93); Visiting Professor at Yale University (2002) and Cornell University (2007); Erskine Visiting Professor at University of Canterbury (2003); and Visiting Scholar and Senior Fellow at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (2012, 2013).

Professor Shields is widely recognized as an expert in ancient philosophy and metaphysics. His research interests also include philosophy of mind, medieval philosophy, modern philosophy, and philosophy and literature. As a prolific writer, he has authored or edited seven books and nearly fifty articles, including The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle (2012);Ancient Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction (2011; Chinese edition 2014); Aristotle (2007; Chinese edition 2013); Blackwell Guide to Ancient Philosophy (2002; Chinese edition 2009); and Order in Multiplicity: Homonymy in the Philosophy of Aristotle (1999). He is also the general editor of History of the Philosophy of Mind (in 5 vols., forthcoming).

As the 19th incumbent of the Tang Chun-I Visiting Professorship, Professor Shields will offer a public lecture on “A Return to Soul: Living Systems and Other Unities,” which explores the manner in which living systems qualify as privileged unities. Additionally, he will offer a four-week graduate seminar on Aristotle’s De Anima, with a special emphasis on the role and nature of hylomorphic explanation in psychology. Students with work through Professor Shield’s translation and commentary, which is undergoing its final revisions before appearing from Clarendon Press, Oxford, next year. Finally, he will offer a departmental seminar on “TheSummum Bonum in Aristotle’s Ethics: Fractured Goodness,” which examines a dispute about the metaphysics of goodness between Plato and Aristotle.