Buddha, Socrates, and Us

Stephen Batchelor is a teacher and scholar of Buddhism. His works include Buddhism Without Beliefs, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, After Buddhism, Secular Buddhism, and The Art of Solitude. He lives in La Sauve, France.

“Batchelor’s latest book is Buddha, Socrates and Us: Ethical Living in Uncertain Times. There he draws on a different tradition of doubt—Socratic questioning—and explores the wisdom that Buddhist and Hellenistic philosophy might offer us today.”—Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show“[Batchelor’s] mastery of the subject is impressive.”—Costica Bradatan, Times Literary Supplement“A rich and fascinating exploration of the lives and teachings of Buddha and Socrates, this book is brave and revelatory, and one that brings us to the crisis of our era and opens a brilliant path forward.”—Roshi Joan Halifax, abbot, Upaya Zen Center“Batchelor has proven himself to be one of our finest writers on Buddhism. In this beautifully written and impeccably researched book, he provides a series of innovative readings of ancient Greek and ancient Buddhist texts to recover an ‘ethics of uncertainty’ as a widely applicable and practical reorientation toward issues that face us all today.”—Dale S. Wright, author of Living Skillfully: Buddhist Philosophy of Life from the Vimalakirti SutraPraise for Stephen Batchelor:  “Elegant and formally ingenious.”—Geoff Wisner, Wall Street Journal, on The Art of Solitude  “The most intellectually stimulating book on Buddhism in the past few years.”—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, on After Buddhism  “Stephen Batchelor is our most profound thinker about the spiritual dilemmas of this time.”—Mark Epstein, author of The Zen of Therapy: Uncovering a Hidden Kindness in Life