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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

Aug 4, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Game Theory and Degrowth’s Dilemma: Why Embrace Degrowth if Other States and Societies Do Not?

I’ve just had a new article published in the Real-World Economics Review. It’s called ‘Game Theory and the Dilemma of Degrowth: Why Embrace Degrowth if Other States and Societies Do Not?’ – freely available here (a couple of paragraphs posted below). The full edition of the journal issue is available here. I’ve also been given another 50... read more

Jul 9, 2026 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Sacred Revolt: Why Reverence before Restraint Transforms the Limits-to-Growth Predicament

I’ve had a new article published called “Sacred Revolt: Why Reverence before Restraint Transforms the Limits-to-Growth Predicament.” This is part of a forthcoming special issue of Psychoanalytic Inquiry. I’ve posted the abstract below, and there are 50 free downloads at the link... read more

Dec 19, 2025 Posted by Samuel Alexander

SMPLE-KOIN: A Buddhist Cryptocurrency Optimised for Material Sufficiency within Game Theory Dynamics

I’ve just published a short new book, SMPLE-KOIN: A Buddhist Cryptocurrency Optimised for Material Sufficiency within Game Theory Dynamics. I’ve posted the blurb below, and the pdf is available here (on a ‘pay what you want’ basis, just edit the price as you see fit). It’s also available on the major online book sellers if you’d prefer a paperback (although it’s... read more

Aug 11, 2025 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Interview with Samuel Alexander

The following interview appeared originally in the Sufficiency and Wellbeing Magazine: Vlad Bunea: You write in Homo Aestheticus (2025): “Material abundance is preferable to material destitution, of course, but ultimately the superfluities of consumer lifestyles are spiritually beside the point, representing a failure of imagination, a mistaken idea of wealth and freedom. Consciously or... read more

Aug 2, 2025 Posted by Samuel Alexander

Creative Evolution

Recently I published Homo Aestheticus: Philosophical Fragments on the Will to Art, available at most online bookstores in paperback, hardback, and also as a pdf (on a pay ‘what you want’ basis, edit the price as you wish). In coming days and weeks I’ll post some of the chapters here on the Simplicity Collective. Here is chapter 3. Creative Evolution 85. At the... 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.