Sam Dresser

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.

See Sam Dresser’s profile on Psyche

Written by Sam Dresser

Black and white photo of a child walking towards a large tree on a foggy field.

essayThinkers 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

Vintage photo of a woman with short hair who is Margaret Mead looking at a carved wooden tribal figure against a dark background.

essayAnthropology

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

Colourful drawing of two men in suits shaking hands. One has a beard and pipe, the other is clean-shaven. Background is dark purple.

ideaThinkers and theories

Freud versus Jung: a bitter feud over the meaning of sex

Sam Dresser

Black and white photo of a man in a suit and tie, looking slightly to his right, with a textured wall as the background.

ideaHistory of ideas

How Camus and Sartre split up over the question of how to be free

Sam Dresser

Edited by Sam Dresser

A couple hugging by a lake under a cloudy sky with a person standing by a lamppost nearby.

essayMeaning and the good life

The six-second hug

From art to religion to sex, instrumentalisation has drained away intrinsic value. But life is about more than material benefits

Julian Baggini

Black and white photo of a diverse group of people standing arm in arm in front of a columned building, showing solidarity.

essayEthics

Going-against-the-grainers

If our ethical beliefs come from our social environment, how do some people find the moral courage to defy convention?

Dane Leigh Gogoshin

Black and white photo of a street scene with a heated discussion involving a traffic officer and men near cars.

essayPolitical philosophy

Guarding the guardians

Good institutions are social technologies that scale trust from personal relations to entire nations. How do they work?

Julien Lie-Panis

Two figures in flowing robes standing amidst partially submerged bodies in a dark, eerie landscape.

essayStories and literature

Subverting hell

In their visions of the underworld Dante and Milton were truly subversive, incorporating predecessors into their own repudiation

Charlie Ericson

Art deco painting of two women, one nude holding a rose, surrounded by birds and a person playing a lyre in red and black.

essayThe ancient world

The erotic poems of Bilitis

A lush translation of this late-discovered lesbian poet added to the legacy of Sappho, but there was a trickster at work

Cat Lambert

Silhouetted figure at a desk with US flag nearby, backlit by sunlight through curtains.

essayPolitical philosophy

Incandescent anger

Politics today is driven by grievances that can never be assuaged. For democracy’s survival, we must grapple with this dynamic

Paul Katsafanas

London’s Gherkin building lit at night with Canary Wharf skyscrapers glowing in the hazy background.

essayHistory of ideas

Philosopher of pride

For Mandeville, humankind has a bottomless need to be liked: it is this perennial craving that forms the foundation of society

Andrea Branchi

A cat sitting on ancient ruins with tall columns under a clear blue sky.

essayThinkers and theories

Nothing alive is alien to me

Who belongs to our moral community? The Greek philosopher Empedocles had an answer: all life, from humans to the laurel bush

Tristan Moyle

Vintage sepia photo of two women in Victorian attire sitting in a parlour room with floral wallpaper, reading opposite each other at writing desk.

essayTechnology and the self

‘I awoke at ½ past 7’

Our cursed age of self-monitoring and optimisation didn’t start with big tech: as so often, the Victorians are to blame

Elena Mary

A man in casual clothes observes an indoor exhibit with lifelike animal and human statues surrounded by tropical plants.

essayKnowledge

Valuable misunderstandings

Scientific progress depends on disagreement. So why are vaccine sceptics and other science critics not worth listening to?

Collin Rice & Kareem Khalifa

Photo of an ancient marble altar with intricate carvings and steps, showcasing classical architectural details and patterns.

essayThe ancient world

An emperor for all seasons

The magnificent Altar of Peace celebrates the imperial order of Augustus’ Rome and his place in the fabric of the cosmos

John Weeds

Abstract painting with two large, nearly identical white panels divided by a thin vertical line.

essayMetaphysics

From nothing, everything

The idea of nothing pushes at the limits of thought, spawning paradoxes that have long nourished art, philosophy, and science

Victoria Wohl