I was born in a small seaside town in England and spent my first sixteen years there, watching the horizon and wondering what lay beyond it. A scholarship to Felsted School opened a door I didn't know existed. I took a gap-year, worked in a bank for seven months, and then spent every penny I'd earned on a bus-and-train-and-boat trip around Malaysia with my girlfriend at the time. That trip taught me something no classroom could: the world is not a theory. It's lived.
At university, I went to read English. Then I found philosophy, and I never looked back. I switched degrees, earned a 2:1, and loved the subject so much I paid to stay on for an MA in Moral, Political, and Legal Philosophy (which I finished *With Distinction*). I was asked to stay on for a PhD, but I couldn't afford it. So I applied for a British Academy award. I got it.
I didn't enjoy teaching. But I loved diving. Even before finishing my thesis, I went to Borneo for four months and trained as a Divemaster. Then I moved to Florida to become a PADI Instructor. I polished my PhD thesis on Aristotle's eudaimonia while living and working as a dive instructor on a tiny island in The Bahamas. That's where I bought Ocean Fox: a business I ran from 2001 to 2008, until the financial crash took it from me.
I left with my then-wife and three-year-old daughter and moved to Montana. I bought into a FedEx Ground delivery business and grew it from one man in a van to twelve employees. I also bought an 80 year old house in Bozeman that was nearly condemned, and rebuilt it with my own hands: solid wood floors, custom features, every nail and beam. I also bought a small log cabin in Idaho, close to Yellowstone, and rebuilt that too. I learned that building something with your hands is a kind of philosophy; a techne that teaches you patience, care, and resilience.
That marriage ended. I moved to Florida, lived on a boat, and met my now-wife. We bought a sailboat, lived aboard and sailed to The Bahamas together in 2024; a return to the island where I'd started my journey, this time with someone I loved deeply.
We now live between Florida and an island in Greece. I work remotely for a US-based company, writing and editing documents. And I've never stopped thinking about eudaimonia.
Not as a theory. As a practice. As something you build, lose, rebuild, and carry with you: through seas, through businesses, through homes, through love, and through loss.
This site is my attempt to share what I've learned. And to build a community of people who want to live well, together.
-- Dr Andrew Leggett