Philosopher in residence

Even before he walks across the stage at Commencement, philosophy graduate student William Reason has been teaching an ethics curriculum of his own design to Philadelphia public high school students, as well as assisting Penn professors in their courses.

Reason earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy with a concentration in political and moral philosophy and a minor in legal studies and history from the College of Arts and Sciences in December. He submatriculated for a master’s degree in philosophy in the School of Arts & Sciences, which he will complete this month.

“I’m really interested in the way that ideas in ethics can inform real policy debates, and can inform the law,” says Reason, who is from Milton, Massachusetts. “Studying the law is at the intersection of my interests in ethics and political philosophy and my interests in public policy and governance.”

As an undergraduate, Reason was a learning assistant for a Penn philosophy class, and this semester he’s a teaching assistant for an introductory legal studies course in the Wharton School. He also helped instruct 5th-12th grade teachers in seminars last summer as an intern at the National Constitution Center through Penn’s Summer Humanities Internship Program.

And he has volunteered in Philadelphia public high schools through Penn’s Project for Philosophy for the Young. This year he is a Philosopher in Residence at the Academy at Palumbo, a public magnet school in South Philadelphia. He directs the student philosophy club there and works with teachers to bring philosophical ideas into their classrooms as a guest lecturer. Reason also has coached the Ethics Bowl team at the public magnet Masterman School, sharing skills he learned as a member of his own high school team.

“One of the things that drew me to Penn is the connection between theory and practice. It goes right back to Penn’s founding by Ben Franklin, who was a political philosopher but also a diplomat, a founding father, an engineer, and an inventor,” Reason says.

“I think that the very best spirit of Penn is both studying ideas in theory and in fields like the humanities but also applying them to do good in the world. And that’s what I hope that I’ve done both through studying philosophy here at Penn but then also teaching Philadelphia high schoolers how to work through ethical issues.”

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Kok-Chor Tan, professor and chair of the Philosophy Department, is Reason’s academic mentor. “He made a very strong impression during our early meetings. He had given careful and balanced considerations to his plan of study and worked out the topics he wished to pursue and the area of research he wanted to focus on,” Tan says. “There was a sincere and genuine enthusiasm and a real curiosity about ideas and debates.”

Reason was the undergraduate learning assistant for Tan’s first-year seminar on environmental justice. “By all accounts, he was a fantastic teaching assistant,” Tan says. “He provided written comments on student reading reflections that gave students clear guidance on how to improve. He was constantly alert to the class needs and took the initiative to contribute.”

In love with philosophy and teaching

It was in 10th grade at Boston University Academy that Reason “fell in love with philosophy,” he says, in a history course taught by a teacher with a Ph.D. in philosophy. “I saw philosophical ideas as deeply practical as well as theoretically interesting.”

Reason went to Dartmouth College for his first two years and transferred to Penn as a third-year in the fall of 2022. Penn has been the “perfect place to explore the theory,” he says, and the Philosophy for the Young program has been integral to his experience.

Teaching high school students is “one of the things that gives me the most meaning in life,” Reason says, helping them to “collaborate and discuss ethical questions productively instead of combatively; that’s at the core of what they’re going to need to be citizens in a democracy. It brings me a lot of joy to help them learn the practice of philosophy, not just the theory.”

Tan lauded Reason’s commitment as an Ethics Bowl competition coach. “His dedication was real and complete, and he was sincerely interested in enriching the education of these young high schoolers,” Tan says, noting that Reason helped with tournament logistics as well. “I saw him rehearsing arguments with his students and giving them a pep talk and encouragement and then offering tips after each round.”

At Palumbo, Reason is embedded in the school, going twice a week, giving lectures on philosophy in various classes, as well as managing the student philosophy club. “When you have a group of students who are engaged in the discussion and you can almost see that light go off in their minds,” he says, “it’s a really cool feeling.”

Dustin Webster, a post-doctoral fellow in philosophy, is the co-director of the Philosophy for the Young Program. “I’m impressed with Will, especially his initiative and reliability in getting involved with the programming,” as well as with the ethics curriculum Reason designed, Webster says.

“He wants feedback, even critical feedback, and wants to learn how to improve and be better,” Webster says. “Will definitely has the commitment and stamina for doing this kind of work.”

Challenging coursework

Some of Reason’s favorite courses at Penn, in addition to Tan’s, include a History of American Law sequence that sparked his interest in constitutional law. “I loved thinking about how philosophical principles could apply to real life court cases that shape what America is and what America is going to be,” he says.

Reason’s bachelor’s honors thesis is about John Rawls, an influential American moral, legal, and political philosopher in the modern liberal tradition. Reason’s master’s thesis is on “metaethics,” which asks questions about the nature of ethics itself. “The reason I’m attracted to metaethics as a field isn't just because I think the questions are interesting, though I think they are,” he says. “I do think there’s something important about finding a way to ground moral questions.”

A motivation underlying his research is the increasing political polarization in the nation. “For me it's important that we rediscover and recommit ourselves to the sorts of ideals that are set out in our Constitution to free speech and the rule of law,” Reason says. “I think those are ideals that have been adhered to imperfectly and selectively throughout our history, but that they are worthwhile ideals nonetheless.

“And those ideals are necessary for us to make progress on more concrete policy objectives. If we can't talk to each other across differences, if we don’t have that sort of foundation, if we don't have a commitment to free speech and dialogue, we're not going to be able to make progress on anything else.”

Looking ahead, Reason has been accepted to a French government program to teach English to middle and high schoolers in France in the coming year. He studied abroad in France, in the Loire Valley, through the Penn Summer Abroad program in 2023, one of his favorite experiences while at Penn, he says.

When he returns, Reason plans to pursue a joint law degree and Ph.D. in philosophy, with the goal of being a professor, working on both legal and philosophical challenges. “There are so many philosophical issues that are at the heart of constitutional law, and at the heart of how we structure our society at a fundamental level,” he says. “That's something that I’d like to contribute to.”

The Philosophy in Residence program is supported by a School of Arts and Sciences Klein Family Social Justice Grant and a grant from the Whiting Foundation.