William O. Stephens grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana. After two years at the College of Wooster in Ohio Stephens transferred to Earlham, a Quaker college in Richmond, Indiana where he studied Greek and Latin and earned a B.A. in philosophy in 1984. Stephens received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. After thirty years on the Arts & Sciences faculty at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, he retired as Professor Emeritus of Philosophy in December 2020.
He has published articles on topics in Stoicism, Epicureanism and friendship, ecology and vegetarianism, ethics and animals, sex and love, sportsmanship, and the concept of a person. His books include a revised edition of his English translation of Adolf Bonhöffer, The Ethics of the Stoic Epictetus (Peter Lang, 2021), an edited collection The Person: Readings in Human Nature (Prentice Hall, 2006), Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom (Continuum, 2007), and Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum, 2012). His latest book (with Scott Aikin) is Epictetus's Encheiridion: A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics (Bloomsbury, June 15, 2023).
Stephens' travels include the islands of Rhodes and Crete, mainland Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Iceland, Poland, the Bahamas, Cornwall, Scotland, Mexico, Canada, Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, and Antarctica. Stephens enjoys tennis, chess, hiking, and nature photography. A lifelong fan of the Chicago Cubs, Stephens was in attendance at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio when, slightly after 12:01 am on November 3, 2016, the Cubs became World Series Champions for the first time since 1908. His allegiance to the Cubs helps explains his devotion to Stoicism.
