I’m a writer, historian of ideas and practical philosopher, interested in ideas and practices which help beings suffer less and flourish more.

You can email me at jules@philosophyforlife.org

I’m now leading the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project - researching psychedelic harm reduction, ethics and integration. We’re currently researching post-trip difficulties and what helps people deal with them. Find out more here.

My first book, Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, explored how people are rediscovering ancient Greek and Roman philosophies and how Greek philosophy (partiularly Stoicism) inspired Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It’s since been published in 19 countries and was a Times book of the year. My second book, The Art of Losing Control, explored how people find ecstatic experiences in modern western culture. It was published in the UK in May 2017, and in the US in September 2017, and has also been published in Holland, Spain, Russia and Italy. In 2019 I published a little book on ayahuasca tourism, called Holiday From the Self. In 2020, I co-edited with Dr Tim Read a book on spiritual emergencies called Breaking Open: Finding a Way Through Spiritual Emergency.

Research

My research on philosophy clubs has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. I’m also involved in the Modern Stoicism and Stoic Week project , which has received press coverage everywhere from Newsweek to the New York Times, and has helped to instigate the revival of Stoic philosophy in modern culture. I co-organized the first Stoicon, in San Diego 2010, and two subsequent Stoicons in London. I also contributed to the Stoicism Today essay collections.

I am an honorary research fellow at the Centre for the History of Emotions, Queen Mary University of London. Over the last eight years I researched the history, philosophy and psychology of well-being, and how different cultures define and seek human flourishing. I wrote this report for the World Health Organisation on cultures of well-being.

I currently run the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences project, which produces research on bad trips, post-trip difficulties and what helps people deal with them. We produced our first paper in January 2023.

One of my projects is researching spiritual emergencies (moments of spiritual awakening which involve temporary psychosis), and I co-edited a 2020 book on that called Breaking Open: Finding a Way Through Spiritual Emergencies.

Work with organisations and individuals

I teach workshops and give talks on emotions, well-being, transcendence and flourishing, which combine ideas from wisdom traditions with insights from modern psychotherapy. I’ve taught philosophy courses at organisations including Arsenal FC , Saracens rugby club, the Civil Service, HMP Low Moss prison, Netflix and Mind.

I have a handful of clients who I do weekly philosophy sessions with.

Media work

I have talked about philosophy on BBC 2’s Newsnight, the Culture Show, on BBC Radio 3 and 4, RTE-1 and ABC Australia; and am a BBC New Generation Thinker. I also co-presented a podcast for Audible. I’ve written for publications including the Financial Times, The Times, Aeon, the Guardian, the Spectator and WIRED. I’ve spoken at events including the Month of Philosophy in Amsterdam, the Hay-On-Wye festival, the Galway Arts Festival,, Latitude, Burning Man, Wilderness, Bestival, the School of Life, the Sunday Assembly, the British Museum and the RSA.

For the last decade I’ve helped to run the London Philosophy Club, which has grown to become the biggest philosophy club in the world, with over 11,000 members. I recently launched the Bristol Philosophy Club and the San Jose Philosophy Club in Costa Rica.

Click here to visit my YouTube channel, which features videos of many of my talks and interviews.

Click here to read my essays on Aeon.

Click here to read my essays on Medium.

Click here to watch my TEDX talk, ‘How philosophy saved my life’.

Click here to listen to a Radio 4 programme I made on Aristotle’s idea of flourishing and how it influences modern politics.

Click here to listen to the Radio 4 series, My Life As A Philosopher, which I co-wrote and co-presented.