Alan John Simmons (born May 4, 1950) is an American political philosopher.

Simmons has chaired Virginia's Philosophy Department and its Program in Political and Social Thought, and he received Virginia's All-University Teaching Award in that award's inaugural year.

Simmons has served on the editorial staff of Philosophy & Public Affairs since 1982.

He is best known for his work on political obligation, legitimacy and authority, John Locke's moral and political philosophy, ideal and nonideal theory (in moral and political philosophy), and the territorial rights of states.

Simmons' 1979 book, Moral Principles and Political Obligations, served as the new starting point for almost all subsequent philosophical discussions of the problem of political obligation.