Democritus and Reasons to be Cheerful
Democritus and his teacher Leucippus were the first philosophers to propose that all things were made up of the joining-together of imperceptible atoms.
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Philosophy, Writing and Wayward Curiosities from Will Buckingham
The Art of Waiting: Tove Jansson’s Moominvalley in November
A masterpiece of children’s literature about grief, friendship, human difference, and the art of waiting.
"Love and Understanding": The tangle of love and wisdom (Love #7)
Is philosophy the love of wisdom? Or is it, as some philosophers have suggested, the wisdom of love? And what do love and wisdom have to do with each other anyway?
Some notes on Plato, divination and madness
For Plato, divination is always tied up with madness — but that it is not to diminish it. Instead, as far as Plato is concerned, divination may be a necessary madness. This is what Plato writes in Timaeus (71e): The claim that god gave divination as …
The Secret of Creativity Is Not Suffering, It Is Pleasure
Three rules for the creative life: avoid suffering, embrace difficulty, seek out pleasure
Gautama Buddha and the Turn Toward Experience
The Buddha was a wandering renunciant in Ancient India who kick-started a two and a half thousand-year-old religious and philosophical tradition. But who was he?
Thirty-six kinds of divination to try at home
Human attempts to read, interpret and over-interpret the world are fascinatingly diverse. This is a list of some divination methods, culled from here and there. Wikipedia has a much more comprehensive list, but these are my favourites. If you happen …
“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” Love, trust and the future (Love #6)
What does it mean to say "I love you"? And how do these three little words change our sense of ourselves, our commitments, and our future?
Living the Life of a Dog with Diogenes the Cynic
Diogenes was the original drop-out philosopher. A fierce critic of the hypocrisy of society, he chose instead to live in accord with nature.
Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong? Love, transcendence and madness (Love #5)
Does love lift us up where we belong? Or is it a kind of madness? In this week's class, we plunge into Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus to find out.
7 Ways of Reading Philosophy: #2 Reading haphazardly
When reading philosophy, it's easy to feel under the obligation to read systematically. But why not give up on feelings of obligation, and read haphazardly?