As if
Why we should embrace beliefs or stories that may not be, strictly speaking, true but are to some extent useful or good
by Sam Dresser
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.
Written by Sam Dresser
An unlikely meeting that shaped history
The diplomatic intervention by a philosopher on a president shows the extraordinary consequences of unlikely meetings
by Sam Dresser
True contact is found in silence
For Emil Cioran, ‘true contact’ with another is the deep intimacy that emerges through mute togetherness
by Sam Dresser
The ancients dreamt the same dreams as us
There is something comforting about realising that, even in Homer’s day, people wondered what the hell their dreams meant
by Sam Dresser
Forgetting in ancient Greece and China
Forgetting can be frustrating, even scary. The ancient Greeks certainly thought so. But Daoism offers a more hopeful view
by Sam Dresser
How to think about pleasure
Weirdly hard to define, much less to feel OK about it, pleasure is a tricky creature. Can philosophy help us lighten up?
by Sam Dresser
How to not fear your death
You exist, but one day you won’t. An Epicurean perspective can help you feel less afraid, and even grateful for life’s finitude
by Sam Dresser
Edited by Sam Dresser
How the nature of friendship has changed through the centuries
The metamorphosis of this special bond from feudal to modern times reveals much about the aspirations of different societies
by Bénedicte Sère
Plato warned that some pleasures separate us from reality
The contemporary obsession with feeling good might mean we’re losing sight of what makes life genuinely meaningful
by Derek van Zoonen
Plato’s challenge to the meaning of manliness still resonates
Even in ancient Greece, Plato questioned whether gender norms around masculinity were good for men’s individual freedom
by Yancy Hughes Dominick
We can live well, even though we don’t have a higher purpose
The novelist and poet Ursula K Le Guin shows we can reject nihilism and naive optimism by practising our collective freedom
by Alexis Shotwell
These lessons in scepticism could make the world a better place
In our age of certainty and dogma, we would all do well to learn from the philosophy of the ancient Greco-Roman sceptics
by Massimo Pigliucci
Is modern asceticism about conformity or quiet revolution?
From detoxes to slow food, today’s asceticism is often about fitting in. But we can rediscover its transformative power
by Iryna Mykhailova
To resist dogma and accept uncertainty, think like a pragmatist
Founded in 19th-century America, the philosophy of pragmatism promises imaginative ways of coping with our circumstances
by Michael Bacon
Metaphors open up our minds – but can also shut them down
The best analogies in poetry and science really crackle, but when do they expand our thinking and when do they constrain it?
by Claire O’Callaghan