About this episode
Clare Carlisle discusses her book on the relationship between philosophy and art, exploring themes of transcendence, biography, and interconnectedness.
Virtual Memories Show 675: Clare Carlisle “I was interested in that relationship between philosophy and art, between philosophy and life-writing, philosophy and narrative form: it’s really at the heart of this project.” Philosopher and biographer Clare Carlisle converses & communes with me over her new book, TRANSCENDENCE FOR BEGINNERS: LIFE WRITING AND PHILOSOPHY (NYRB). We talk about her existential moment of being invited to give the Gifford Lectures on natural theology and how it led her wonder what she could say about the knowledge of God, how writing biographies raised philosophical questions on the nature of a life in its entirety, how flexible the notion of transcendence is (and why it doesn’t have to be “rising above” the world so much as “spreading out” into it), and how the lecture mode offered her an opportunity for a different writing voice. We get into the possibility of communion and transmission, the tension between biography and philosophy, the harmfulness of the notion of attainment and what that implies of the seeking of wisdom, and what happens if you’re like Kierkegaard and you hear The Call but…
People in this episode
Host: Gil Roth
Guest: Clare Carlisle
Topics covered
- philosophy
- art
- life-writing
- biography
- transcendence
- narrative form
Keywords
- philosophy
- art
- biography
- transcendence
- Kierkegaard
- Spinoza
- life-writing
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: TRANSCENDENCE FOR BEGINNERS
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