Ep 144: We Are All Philosophers | Rethinking Alcohol

Who am I? What do I stand for? What kind of life do I want to live? These aren't questions reserved for lecture halls. If you've ever tried to change your relationship with alcohol, you've already been asking them.

This week, Anna Donaghey is joined by Peg O'Connor, professor of philosophy, author and a woman in long-term recovery, to bring philosophy out of academia and into everyday life. Together they make the case that anyone grappling with change is already a philosopher at heart.

Peg shares her lived experience of addiction and what it taught her about shame, self-belief and the quiet pull of living on autopilot. She and Anna explore why recovery works better as an ongoing experiment than a fixed identity, and how reclaiming genuine agency and a sense of belonging to yourself can change everything.

Whether you're sober, sober curious or simply questioning the role alcohol plays in your life, this conversation will leave you thinking differently about who you are and who you're becoming.

Highlights:

00:00 Meet Peg O'Connor: philosopher, author, and recovering alcoholic

01:16 The big questions addiction and philosophy both ask

03:26 Why everyone in recovery is already a philosopher

04:09 Ancient philosophy: "How do we live and flourish?"

09:10 Knowing you're in trouble, but unsure how to change

12:00 The fatalism and isolation of shame

14:53 39 years sober and still treating every day as a new experiment