Ralph W. Clark

Professor
Ph.D. University of Colorado
Ralph.clark@mail.wvu.edu

Specializations:

Ethics, Business Ethics, Metaphysics

Professional Bio:

Date of birth: March 20, 1944

Present position: Professor of Philosophy at West Virginia University

Date of first appointment to present position: 8/85

Date of first appointment to West Virginia University: 8/71

Education:

B.A. in philosophy, 1966, University of Denver, (Phi Beta Kappa).
Ph.D. in philosophy, 1971, University of Colorado.

During my years at West Virginia University, my teaching interests have focused on the history of philosophy and ethics. I have frequently taught Topics in Medieval Philosophy, History of Ethics, Ancient Philosophy, Ethical Theory, and Current Moral Problems. For several years, I taught Modern Philosophy as well as Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, and American Philosophy. Over the years, I have put a lot of effort into determining the best way to teach Problems of Philosophy. Initially, my research interests were focused on the history of medieval philosophy; I published several papers on Aquinas. As an outgrowth of this interest, I published several papers on topics in metaphysics--and as a further development, I began doing work on questions pertaining to the philosophy of time. Concurrently, I did work in the general area of ethics, especially on questions concerning the justification of ethical claims. As an outgrowth of this interest, I did work in the area of business ethics. I published several papers pertaining to ethics, a textbook for students taking current moral problems courses, and a book on workplace ethics (with A. D. Lattal as co-author). I received a large grant from the West Virginia Humanities Foundation to be co-director of a conference on business and industry. I received support from both the West Virginia Humanities Foundation and the Maryland Humanities Council to give lectures on business ethics.

Along the way, I published a textbook for students taking problems of philosophy courses .

My interest in ethical theory and business ethics developed into an interest in political philosophy, especially questions pertaining to the motivational side of political systems (as an example: Which systems most effectively motivate ethical and/or efficient conduct in the world of business?). I continue to do work in this area.

The main focus of my work at the present time is a large scale project defending a version of the "passage theory of time." Because the passage theory conflicts with the special theory of relativity (at least, insofar as this theory is usually interpreted), which itself has implications for the general theory of relativity and for quantum mechanics, the scope of my defense of the passage theory has led me to undertake an examination of questions that lie in the border area where philosophy and physics overlap.