Dr. Katharine O’Reilly

Dr. O’Reilly studied ancient philosophy at the University of Toronto, King’s College London, and the University of Oxford (DPhil, 2019), before joining King’s College London with a cross-appointment between Philosophy and Classics in 2019. She joins Ryerson’s Philosophy Department in July 2021. She is a specialist in Ancient Greek & Roman Philosophy, particularly ancient moral psychology. Her work is focused on prudentialism, memory, anticipation, pain and pleasure.

Dr. O’Reilly teaches topics in Ancient Philosophy (including Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic Philosophy, Late Ancient Philosophy, and specialist modules on particular texts and schools), Moral Philosophy, Ethics (Historical and Contemporary), Gender & Philosophy, and Women in Ancient Thought. She holds a PGDip (Postgraduate Diploma) in Higher Education, and a PGCAP (Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice) in Higher Education from King’s Learning Institute and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Association (HEA). From 2020-24 she sits on the Management Committee of the British Society for the History of Philosophy.

In 2021-22 she is a co-organiser of the Fifth Canadian Colloquium for Ancient Philosophy which will be hosted at Ryerson.

"I’m very excited to join Ryerson, which involves a return to my hometown of Toronto after many years in the UK. The Department of Philosophy strikes me as a friendly and dynamic place, and I look forward to contributing to that community."