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Sep 6, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Democratising the Poet (interview question #10)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. If Henry Thoreau inspired some of these ideas, you also say that you go beyond him by seeking to ‘democratise the poet’ – and here the influence of William Morris again becomes clear. Can you expand on how Morris influenced... read more

Sep 5, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

The Poet-Farmer (interview question #9)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. You have mentioned this idea of the ‘poet-farmer’. Can you offer more insight into this character or archetype? To what extent is it indebted to Henry David Thoreau? Yes, the figure of the ‘poet-farmer’ is one of the... read more

Sep 1, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

SMPLCTY (interview question #8)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Can you say more about your notion of SMPLCTY? In what sense does it signify an ecological civilisation? And can you explain the unusual spelling? SMPLCTY is my signifier for a possible form of ecological civilisation grounded in... read more

Aug 23, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Homo Aestheticus (interview question #7)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Building upon those ideas, you propose that humanity needs to transition from ‘homo economicus’ to ‘homo aestheticus’. How should we understand this transition? Is ‘homo aestheticus’ something that we already are or... read more

Aug 20, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Aesthetic Anthropology (interview question #6)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. You have spoken of art and aesthetics but we haven’t yet discussed, in any depth, the notion of beauty, which you have mentioned a few times. In your writings on the poet-philosopher, Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), you seem to... read more

Aug 16, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

The Will to Art (interview question #5)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Before engaging you on social and political issues, let us delve deeper into your notion of the ‘Will to Art’. This is perhaps the most obscure philosophical concept in your recent work. What do you mean by the Will to Art? Is... read more

Aug 12, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

The Aesthetic Universe (interview question #4)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. In one of the early essays in SMPLCTY you engage the work of artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), but seem to push his aesthetic perspective a few steps further. Why is Duchamp important to how you’ve interpreted the cosmos as a... read more

Aug 9, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

The Apocalyptic Sublime (interview question #3)

Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. In the preface to your book SMPLCTY, you discuss the ‘apocalyptic sublime’. What do you mean by this intriguing but slightly unsettling turn of phrase? When I speak of the ‘apocalyptic sublime’, I am trying to name a... read more

Aug 7, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Defining Art and Aesthetics (interview question #2)

My friend and colleague Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. Before proceeding we ought to address some definitional questions in relation to ‘art’ and ‘aesthetics’. How should we understand these complex and contested terms? I use those terms in a... read more

Aug 4, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

A Pessimistic Retreat? (interview question #1)

My friend and colleague Dr Simon Ussher has started emailing me interview questions about my recent books on aesthetics (see here). Over coming weeks I’ll post my responses to his questions. You have spent your career writing about notions of voluntary simplicity, degrowth, permaculture, and energy descent. Why now, after twenty years of scholarship and activism, do you find yourself drawn to... read more

Invitation / Incitation

The Simplicity Collective is founded upon the idea that a 'simpler life' of reduced resource and energy consumption is a viable and desirable alternative to consumer culture.

Our position is that simple living will improve not only our own lives, but the lives of others, as well as help save our planet from the environmental catastrophe towards which we are so enthusiastically marching.

We must not just fall in line, then, and continue the march ‘business as usual.’ We must explore alternative ways to live. We must experiment creatively, like the artist. We must be the poets of our own lives and of a new generation.