Sam Dresser
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
Virtues and vices
guide
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
Death and dying
guide
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
History of ideas
idea
How the ancient philosophers imagined the end of the world
by Christopher Star
Meaning and the good life
idea
What’s a life worth living? For the ancients, it depends
by David Machek
Artists and art history
idea
Is the attunement of abstract art and music more than a metaphor?
by Michelle Liu
Meaning and the good life
idea
Our age of crises needs Bollnow’s philosophy of hope
by Norm Friesen
Drugs and psychedelics
idea
What can Kant tell us about the perils and promise of booze?
by Matthew Perkins-McVey
Animals
idea
If animals are persons, should they bear criminal responsibility?
by Ed Simon
Knowledge and reason
guide
How to think about truth
In a world of disagreement, what should you believe? These ideas will help you take a philosophically informed perspective
by Jeremy Wyatt & Joseph Ulatowski
Laughter and comedy
idea
A sense of humour – even a dark one – is a moral virtue
by Mark Alfano & Mandi Astola
Poetry
idea
The long poem is just right for our confounding, fractured age
by Tess Somervell
Addiction
idea
I made professor before Ritalin. Now I can’t work without it
by Gordon Marino
Civic life
idea
Can political persuasion be something more than manipulation?
by James Kastely
Laughter and comedy
idea
Just when in history did men decide that women are not funny?
by Joy Wiltenburg