Alan Wilson Watts (1915–1973) was a British-born philosopher, writer, and speaker best known for interpreting and popularizing Eastern philosophy for Western audiences. Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and later became an Episcopal priest before leaving the ministry to pursue independent scholarship.
Watts authored more than 25 books and numerous essays on subjects including Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and comparative religion. His accessible writing style and charismatic lectures helped introduce millions of Westerners to Eastern spiritual traditions during the countercultural movements of the 1950s and 1960s.
Central to Watts’s philosophy was the idea that the individual ego is an illusion and that human beings are fundamentally connected to the universe. His explorations of consciousness, identity, and the nature of self intersect with transhumanist questions about human enhancement and the boundaries of individual existence.