Dr Emily Daly

Research Ireland Postdoctoral Researcher

I hold a BA in Classical Civilisation and English Literature from Trinity College Dublin (2018) and an MSt in Ancient Philosophy from Oxford (2021). After three years of working as a brand copywriter (2018-2020; 2021-2022) I made the decision to pursue a career in academia, earning a DPhil in Philosophy from Oxford under the supervision of Prof. Dominic Scott (2026). My doctoral thesis, Laughter and the Good Life in Plato and Aristotle, is the first comparative study of Plato’s and Aristotle’s attitudes towards laughter. It examines the complex interconnections between the bodily act of laughing and the following phenomena in Plato and Aristotle: the psychological state(s) underpinning laughter, the ‘laughable’ (to geloion) as a particular type of content, the genre of comedy, friendship, and, in the case of Aristotle, the virtue of wittiness (eutrapelia). I am thrilled to be back at Trinity as a Research Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow. The aim of my current project is to write a monograph based on my doctoral thesis. I would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in Plato, Aristotle, the philosophy of humour, and ancient philosophy in general.

Selected Publications

• ‘Plato and the Problem of Comedy,’ Mnemosyne (forthcoming)
• ‘Plato on Joy.’ In Philosophie der Freude, edited by Jan Kerkmann and Moritz René Pretzsch. De Gruyter (under contract).
• ‘Plato on the Art of Growing Old,’ European Geriatric Medicine (with Dr. Simon Daly, forthcoming)
• Aurelius: Simple Stoic Wisdom for Thriving in Chaotic Times, Ebury Press (forthcoming, August 2027)

Email dalye24