Senior Editor, Aeon+Psyche
Sam has been with Aeon since its launch in 2012. He’s most interested in how to do philosophy and in the continental/analytic divide. History and politics are also amusing to him. He considers Evelyn Waugh to be a very funny writer and enjoys pubs more than he should.
essay
Thinkers and theories
Peak ellipsis
Does philosophy reside in the unsayable or should it care only for precision? Carnap, Heidegger and the great divergence
Sam Dresser
essay
Anthropology
The meaning of Margaret Mead
Mead argued that non-Western cultures offered alternative (often better) ways to be human. Why was she so vilified for it?
Sam Dresser
idea
Thinkers and theories
Freud versus Jung: a bitter feud over the meaning of sex
Sam Dresser
idea
History of ideas
How Camus and Sartre split up over the question of how to be free
Sam Dresser
essay
Knowledge
Known unknowables
The ancient Sceptics used doubt as a way of investigating the world. Later thinkers undermined even that possibility
Mahdi Ranaee
essay
Animals and humans
Goodbye Pixel
Although it felt more like bereavement for a person than the loss of a thing, the death of a pet isn’t exactly like either
Julian Baggini
essay
Personality
Born that way
Confident or shy, our temperament is mostly baked-in from birth. But how that influences our lives is up for grabs
Gina Mireault
essay
Philosophy of mind
Philosophy’s blindspot
Education has long been ignored by contemporary philosophers. That is a myopic view that must change
David Bakhurst
essay
History of ideas
The herd in the head
It is enormously empowering – even intoxicating – to lose yourself to a crowd. That is why we need contrarians
Costica Bradatan
essay
Comparative philosophy
How to become wise
Practice is at the heart of Korean philosophy. In order to lead a good life, hone your daily rituals of self-cultivation
Kevin Cawley
essay
Metaphysics
This essay isn’t true
Alethic nihilism is the theory that nothing is true. There is much to gain by taking this radical idea seriously
David Liggins
essay
War and peace
Trenches in Chernobyl
Disturbing and inhaling radioactive dust, in their haste Russian soldiers unburied the wrecked, undead Earth itself
Michael Marder
essay
Beauty and aesthetics
Attuned to the aesthetic
The ultimate value of the world can be discovered if you are sensitive to what is beautiful
Tom Cochrane
essay
Beauty and aesthetics
What does art do?
Good art, laced with irony, ambiguity and suspense, is not obviously political. That’s what makes it politically interesting
Vid Simoniti
essay
Religion
The imperative betrayal
The mystery of why Judas forsook Jesus goes to the heart of Christianity. A newly translated gospel offers a new view
David Brakke
essay
Religion
Blue-eyed Buddhist
The story of a working-class radical from Ireland who became a celebrated monk and challenged the British Empire in Asia
Laurence Cox