Will Buckingham

Welcome Welcome to the latest Looking for Wisdom philosophy course, where we’ll be exploring the philosophy of work.

Life Democritus was born in the city of Abdera in Thrace sometime around 460 BCE.

I’m working on a long-standing project about divination, an interest that started when I was writing my book Sixty-Four Chance Pieces.

It is a story where nothing happens.

Life Yang Zhu, also known as Yangzi or “Master Yang”, was a Chinese philosopher who lived sometime around the fourth or fifth century BCE, during the Warring States Period in China.

The Love of Wisdom, and the Wisdom of Love Welcome to the final piece in our series on love.

I have spent most of the last two decades teaching the art of writing.

For Plato, divination is always tied up with madness — but that it is not to diminish it.

Life All contemporary traditions of Buddhism trace their origins to a wandering sage-philosopher from India, sometimes called Siddhārtha Gautama, or simply known as “the Buddha.”

Human attempts to read, interpret and over-interpret the world are fascinatingly diverse.

Introduction Imagine you’ve been dating somebody for a while.

Life Diogenes — also known as the Dog — was a native of the state of Sinope on the Black Sea coast.

Love, we are told, lifts us up where we belong: “Where the eagles cry / On a mountain high… / Far from the world we know / Where the clear winds blow.”

Philosophers and storytellers The moment you pick up a philosophy book, if you are anything like me, you will almost immediately feel heavy with a cluster of obligations.

A complicated business Of all areas of human life, sex is one of the most complicated.

When reading philosophy, the advice is often to read slowly and carefully, tortoise-style, making sure you understand every point before going on to the next.

Introduction The Daodejing or Classic of Ways and Powers is one of the most translated of all Chinese texts.

Taking your father to court The philosopher Socrates is outside the court in Athens.

Philosophy can often appear to be a daunting subject.

Life According to Herodotus’s Histories, as far back as the sixth century BCE, the city of Croton in the south of Italy was famous as a centre for medicine.

Social primates Whatever else it might be about, love is about connection.

The other day, I took a break from my writing desk and went into the kitchen to make bread.

Introduction Alexus McLeod is originally from Washington, DC, and now living in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Birds do it.

This post was first published over on Blank Page in February 2021.

This piece was first published on Blank Page on Feb 22nd 2021.

Life Sunzi’s “The Art of War” is an ancient Chinese text that has become famous worldwide for its insights into strategy.

Three radical women philosophers from the ancient world Although it is sometimes said that the history of philosophy is the history of human attempts to understand ourselves and the world, if you pick up any introductory philosophy textbook, it doesn’t ta…

Welcome to the final piece in this short series on wisdom.

Life Empedocles was a philosopher from the city of Akragas in Sicily.

I’m really pleased to announce that my book Lucy and the Rocket Dog, illustrated by the brilliant Monica Arnaldo, is forthcoming in French as Lucy et le chien de l’espace, translated by Hermine Hémon and published by Lucca Editions.

If philosophy has always been preoccupied with wisdom, its relationship with the opposite of wisdom—foolishness—has always been a vexed one.

Life Deng Xi (c. 545 - 501 BCE) was a lawyer from the state of Zheng, where he also served as an official.

I arrived in Yangon for the first time in January 2017, my life broken into pieces.

Wisdom, virtue and the art of cultivation If wisdom is something desirable, something to which we can aspire, then how do we go about becoming wiser?

Going with the gut How do we know what is the wise thing to do?

Anaxagoras: Life Anaxagoras was born into a wealthy family around the year 500 BCE in the city of Clazomenae, close to present-day Izmir on the coast of Turkey.

Socrates and Zhuang Zhou on not knowing Welcome back.

Introduction Welcome to the first ever Philosopher File interview!

Wisdom, thinking and doing Welcome to the second piece in this series on wisdom: what it is and why it matters.

Life Xenophanes (c. 570 BCE — c. 478 BCE) came from the Ionian city of Colophon.

Welcome This is the first in a seven-part series on wisdom.

I contributed a chapter called “A Rude People Subject to No Constraint” to this collection of terrific essays on travelling and revisiting travels .

Snorghs don’t have visitors.

Life Far-ranging wisdom Jing Jiang was a Chinese philosopher who was born in the state of Lu around 540 BCE.

Life Parmenides was a philosopher from the city of Elea, a Greek colony on the Italian peninsula.

Life Telling tales about the sages There is considerable debate about whether Yājñavalkya is a historical figure or a literary creation (see the Philosopher File on Diotima).

Life The first scientist?

It’s a curious image.

Life Gārgī Vācaknavī appears in the Bṛhadāraṅyaka Upaniṣad, a philosophical compilation that dates to around the seventh or the sixth century BCE, although it contains strains of material that may be much older.