{"id":18019,"date":"2026-04-29T19:55:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=18019"},"modified":"2026-04-29T20:03:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T00:03:31","slug":"episode-675-clare-carlisle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-675-clare-carlisle","title":{"rendered":"Episode 675 – Clare Carlisle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 675:
\nClare Carlisle<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_675_-_Clare_Carlisle.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

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“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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Philosopher and biographer Clare Carlisle<\/a> converses & communes with me over her new book, TRANSCENDENCE FOR BEGINNERS: LIFE WRITING AND PHILOSOPHY<\/a> (NYRB). We talk about her existential moment of being invited to give the Gifford Lectures<\/a> 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 don’t know what it’s calling you to do. We also discuss her philosophical love affair with Spinoza and his philosophy of interconnectedness, the bridge she discovered between Spinoza and Indian traditions, the influence of past guest Celia Paul<\/a> on the lectures, and more. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read TRANSCENDENCE FOR BEGINNERS<\/a>!<\/p>\n

“I’d written biographies of thinkers, but with these lectures I felt I needed to say something myself rather than just interpret another thinker.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n