Dr Alexander Douglas

Director of Teaching

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy

Researcher profile

Phone

+44 (0)1334 46 4437

Email

axd@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Research areas

I am generally interested in the philosophy of the human sciences, particularly those that address practical and theoretical reasoning. This interest has led me to the thought of Benedict de Spinoza – an early pioneer of philosophical anthropology. My other interests include the philosophy of economics and political economy, René Girard and mimetic theory, and early Daoist texts, especially the Zhuangzi.

Selected publications

• Open access

  Antitelic essences in Spinoza’s “mystical atheism”

  Douglas, A., 21 Jan 2026, In: Topoi. Online first

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  A policy of no interest? The permanent zero interest rate, and the evils of capitalism

  Douglas, A., 29 Apr 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Philosophy, Politics and Critique. 3, 1, p. 72-88

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Against identity: The wisdom of escaping the self

  Xavier Douglas, A., 12 Jul 2025, London: Penguin. 258 p.

  Research output: Book/Report › Book

• Open access

  Essence is fluttering

  Douglas, A., 1 Sept 2025, Aeon.

  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

• From breath to beatitude: Spinoza in respiratory medicine

  Lim, T. K. & Douglas, A., Dec 2025, In: Respirology. 30, 12, p. 1204-1205

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

• Open access

  God as moral anti-exemplar in Spinoza

  Xavier Douglas, A., Oct 2025, In: Topoi. 44, 4, p. 983–991 9 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Open access

  Tech bros don’t get René Girard -- Luckily, the Popes do

  Xavier Douglas, A., 17 Jun 2025, Unherd.

  Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

• Open access

  Meritocracy in the political and economic spheres

  Sachs-Cobbe, B. A. & X. Douglas, A., Jan 2024, In: Philosophy Compass. 19, 1, 15 p., e12955.

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Précis of The Philosophy of Hope: Beatitude in Spinoza

  Douglas, A., 3 Jul 2024, In: Res Philosophica. 101, 3, p. 591-601

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

• Responses to the reviews of Stephen Harrop, Kristin Primus, and Brook Ziporyn

  Douglas, A., 1 Jul 2024, In: Res Philosophica. 101, 3, p. 629-638

  Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

 

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