About Me
On the pursuit of understanding in an age of complexity
I am writer and philosophical thinker, focused on exploring how we build meaningful lives when the traditional frameworks that once guided human existence have dissolved.
My current approach draws from Aristotle's virtue ethics, existentialist thought, and phenomenology, engaging thinkers like Heidegger, Sartre, MacIntyre, and Byung-Chul Han. I write for those who sense that modern life feels fundamentally misaligned with human flourishing but struggle to articulate why.
Rather than constructing abstract philosophical systems, I often start with life as it's actually lived. Through concrete examples—the teacher whose calling meets bureaucratic obstruction, the choices that shape character one habit at a time, the moral compromises we learn to live with—I explore the structures that enable or prevent human flourishing.
Photographed in Stockholm, 2024
Intellectual Journey
My path to philosophy began with a disquiet I couldn't name: the sense that life was somehow both too full and too empty, that despite unprecedented freedom, something essential was missing.
This search led me first into academic philosophy, where I spent years studying the canonical texts and learning to construct rigorous arguments. But gradually I realized that my academy's Cartesian approach—starting with foundational certainties and building upward—was precisely backward. Life doesn't present itself as a logical system to be solved but as an experience to be understood.
The turning point came when I discovered thinkers who started with existence rather than essence: Heidegger's attention to Being-in-the-world, Sartre's exploration of radical freedom, Aristotle's practical wisdom rooted in habit and character. These philosophers showed me that the most profound insights emerge not from abstract reasoning but from careful attention to how life actually unfolds.
Key Influences
Aristotle
On virtue, character formation through habit, and human flourishing
Alasdair MacIntyre
On the fragmentation of modern moral discourse and recovering virtue
Martin Heidegger
On starting with lived experience rather than abstract foundations
Hannah Arendt
On the human condition and the vita activa
Byung-Chul Han
On the crisis of narration and modern society's effects on meaning
Current Focus
The Architecture of Meaning
Examining how meaning emerges from the intersection of internal disposition and external circumstance. I'm particularly interested in structural alignment (when our deepest capacities find expression in the world) versus structural misalignment.
Virtue Ethics for Contemporary Life
Exploring how Aristotle's insights about character formation through habit remain vital for modern life. How do we become who we are through our daily practices?
Narrative Identity
Investigating how modern individuals must create their own life narratives after the loss of given frameworks. What does it mean to author your own story in late modernity?
Moral Philosophy & Lived Experience
Analyzing how abstract moral principles play out in concrete situations, from everyday compromises to societal-level questions of justice.
Approach & Methodology
My approach is fundamentally interdisciplinary. I believe that the most pressing questions of our time cannot be adequately addressed from within any single academic discipline. The boundaries between philosophy, economics, sociology, and cultural studies are often artificial barriers that prevent us from seeing the full complexity of human experience.
I believe philosophy should start with life as we actually live it, not with abstract systems that impose themselves from above. This doesn't mean abandoning rigor, but it does mean recognizing that the most profound insights often emerge from careful attention to concrete reality. I also strive toward writing philosophy that remains accessible without sacrificing depth. This means using clear examples, avoiding unnecessary jargon, and always connecting abstract ideas back to lived experience. Philosophy should illuminate life, not obscure it.
Guiding Principles
- Resisting premature systematization
- Historical perspective, understanding how ideas develop over time
- Ethical consideration, always returning to the question of "what kind of life ought to be lived?"
- Bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary life
- Intellectual humility, acknowledging the limits of knowledge
Background
Based in Sweden, I write primarily in English for an international audience interested in philosophical approaches to contemporary life. My work draws from the European philosophical tradition while departing from its academic conventions. Philosophy, as I practice it, is not a specialized academic discipline but something more fundamental, the human attempt to make coherent sense of her experience. It belongs not in ivory towers but in the midst of life itself.
Finally, I maintain an active correspondence with readers, fellow writers, and academics who share interests in these questions. I believe that philosophy is fundamentally a collaborative enterprise, a dialogue between minds rather than a solitary pursuit.
Location
Hudiksvall, Sweden
Languages
English, Swedish, Italian
Specializations
Philosophy of Meaning, Moral Philosophy, The Human Condition
On Dialogue & Correspondence
I welcome thoughtful engagement with these ideas. Whether you're a fellow writer, academic, or simply someone grappling with similar questions in contemporary life, I'm interested in conversation.