Clerestory (Bryan Kam)

My long-awaited full PDF paper is out. “Neither/Nor: a pragmatic philosophy for oscillating between conceptual and experiential knowledge,” co-authored with Isabela Granic , is available here . ( PDF ) Jonah Wilberg, who writes The Wider Angle here on Substack, interviewed me on the principles of the paper. We recorded in my living room. The core argument: rationality and perception are not two in...

I’m Bryan Kam . I endeavour daily to make philosophy accessible and relevant. To that end I write this newsletter and host a podcast called Clerestory . I’m also writing a book called Neither/Nor and I’m a founding member of Liminal Learning . In London, I host a book club , a writing group, and other events. My work looks at how conceptual abstraction relates to embodied life, and how to use this...

Mathematics as MethodA Conversation with Alexander V. Gheorghiu Bryan Kam in conversation with Alex, assistant professor and a New Frontiers Fellow in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. As you'll hear in this podcast, my meeting with Alex Gheorghiu was random and fortuitous. In this podcast we discuss whether and how mathematics and logic relate to rea...

On Thursday 7th August, I walked around Bethnal Green with Christopher Daniel , who organises Long Now London . We walked through East London, discussing architecture, philosophy, and the importance of long-term thinking. We explored the evolution of our own projects, especially Long Now London and Bryan's discussion group Through a Glass Darkly . We delved into broader themes like societal ch...

In this podcast, I discuss the draft of the academic paper on Neither/Nor which I wrote about here , with my coauthor, developmental psychologist Dr. Isabela Granic . This paper has been a lot of work, and we discussed the writing right after finishing a major draft. In the paper and in our discussion, we emphasise the six principles of Neither/Nor . The article currently has an editor at Nature a...

I’m Bryan Kam . I endeavour daily to make philosophy accessible and relevant. To that end I write this newsletter and host a podcast called Clerestory . I’m also writing a book called Neither/Nor and I’m a founding member of Liminal Learning . In London, I host a book club , a writing group, and other events. My work looks at how abstract concepts relate to embodied life, and how to use this under...

My friend ⁠ Pen⁠ interviewed me about Type 1 Diabetes, which I've lived with for 38 years. This is the second episode, in which we focus on my current daily experience living with diabetes. We also discuss how the intensity of managing diabetes relates to the book I'm writing, Neither/Nor , which explores the nuances between conceptual understanding and lived experience. I emphasize the ne...

My friend Pen interviewed me about Type 1 Diabetes, which I've lived with for 38 years. In this podcast we speak about what diabetes is, and what what it's like to live with. Clerestory by Bryan Kam • Writing on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Support this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

I spoke to director, cinematographer, and my good friend Cécile Embleton ( instagram ) about her work and influences and her new film ⁠Mother Vera⁠ , which is playing at the London Film Festival next month. This is a feature documentary about the life of a young orthodox nun from Belarus, I have seen it, and it is spectacular. Cécile and I discuss literature, her influences, and the challenges and...

This is a cross-post from my friend David Valerio 's new podcast, Discern Earth . In it, we speak about what nature is. Here's David's description: We discuss the etymology of nature and related terms, whether there is a hard distinction between man and nature, hypostatization and reification, the Christian roots of theories about the inherent value of nature, and the role of embodied...

Delia and I walked along the ⁠Parkland Walk⁠ in London with Zoom f2 recorders and lapel mics. We cover a bit about ⁠ Neither/Nor ⁠ , as well as existentialism versus essentialism. The biologists I couldn't think of at the end was ecologist Robert MacArthur; see ⁠r/K selection theory⁠ . Listen to Delia's podcast, ⁠Growing Up with Delia Burgess⁠ . Recorded in June 2024.

In this episode I spoke to Dr. Noah Martin, Director of the College of Modern Anxiety . We discussed the relationship between phenomenology and existentialism, and the relationship between subjective and objective understanding in philosophy. We cover thinkers like Edmund Husserl, Donna Haraway, Sartre, and de Beauvoir. Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substa...

I spoke to Kit Tempest-Walters about his new book: Plotinus on Eternity and Time , which includes a translation and commentary of Ennead III.7. We discuss the challenges of translating, philosophical perspectives on the self, consciousness, and mysticism. We also talked about some of my perspectives from the book I'm writing, ⁠ Neither/Nor ⁠ , including the differences in the organizing assump...

It's been nearly a year since our ⁠last episode⁠ , in which Maggie Appleton and I discussed why we write. A year is a long time in AI; has it made much progress in how it writes? Possibly not, but it has made some progress in search. Discussed: Search engines Perplexity and Exa Excellent IFS therapy app Refract.space Philosophy Discord: The Speculative Discord Philosophy Telegram channel: The...

At the end of 2023, I asked seven people I knew to join me in a WhatsApp group experiment. Read more ⁠here⁠ . We set up a schedule by which one of us, each Thursday, would record a (suggested) 5 minute question on a creative or existential quandary we were facing. The other seven members had committed to responding with a (suggested) 10 minute response, meaning that one person would ask a question...

At the end of 2023, I asked seven people I knew to join me in a WhatsApp group experiment. Read more here . We set up a schedule by which one of us, each Thursday, would record a (suggested) 5 minute question on a creative or existential quandary we were facing. The other seven members had committed to responding with a (suggested) 10 minute response, meaning that one person would ask a question,...

Part 8 in a series of interviews on the book I'm working on, ⁠⁠ Neither/Nor ⁠⁠ . In this episode, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Isabela Granic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and I discuss: Julian Jaynes The Aphoristic style of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Jaynes, and others The Axial Age and whether it changed human cognition ad experience Obviousnesses and ideology, from Althusser's "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" (1975...

Part 7 in a series of interviews on the book I'm working on, ⁠ Neither/Nor ⁠ . In this episode, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Isabela Granic⁠⁠⁠⁠ asks about three thinkers that have influenced my thinking: Julian Jaynes (1920–1997), Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), and Zhuangzi (369–286 BC) sometimes written Zhuang Zhou or Chuang-tzǔ). Previous episodes: Part 6 of this series: Mental Proliferation Part 5 of this series: ⁠Crises...

How do you balance your life’s purpose, your creative impulse, or your art, with the realities of life? Here are the final four responses I received. Thanks to Peter, Olga Yakimenko, Rainbow, and Kevin Bowers . Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • All my work plus exclusive content at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠

Principles of Neither/Nor : Every idea, concept, philosophy has a history The two opposed but complementary ways of knowing are intuition and reason Neither/Nor emphasizes dynamic movement across these two polarities and across all polarities, and opposes static positions Learning and perception involve experimentation, trial and error, variation and selection All philosophies and concepts are soc...

How do you balance your life’s purpose, your creative impulse, or your art, with the realities of life? Here are the next seven responses I've received. Thanks to Shannon , Luiz , Matt Sterett , and Yulia Babanova . I'm still taking submissions. Please upload your audio response here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bryankam.com/record⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Clerestory by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Bryan Kam⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Infrequent updates at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substa...

How do you balance your life’s purpose, your creative impulse, or your art, with the realities of life? Here are the next seven responses I've received. Thanks to ⁠Patricia⁠ , ⁠Liv⁠ , ⁠Ben⁠ , ⁠Nastasia⁠ ( ⁠@Gryphire⁠ ), ⁠Michael⁠ , ⁠Maggie⁠ ( ⁠@Mappletons⁠ ), and Gloria. I'm still taking submissions. Please upload your audio response here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bryankam.com/record⁠⁠⁠⁠ . I will relea...

Part 6 in a series of interviews on the book I'm working on, Neither/Nor . In this episode, ⁠⁠⁠Isabela Granic⁠⁠⁠ asks about the Buddhist term " papança " and how it relates to anxiety and depression. Topics discussed: The meaning of papança or ⁠Conceptual proliferation⁠ Whether this proliferation is related to rumination, anxiety, and depression Historicization of translations How to...

In this episode I spoke with my dear friend ⁠Joachim Brackx⁠ in a series of voicenotes. We discuss beauty, quality, and aesthetic enjoyment . We recorded the voicenotes over about a month, March–April 2023. We would both love to hear what you think of this experiment! This is a follow-up to our original epistolary experiment, on Choice, Desire, and Purpose . Subscribe to Joachim's newsletter a...

How do you balance your life’s purpose, your creative impulse, or your art, with the realities of life? Here are the next five responses I've received. Thanks to Caleb , Delia , Samantha , Carolina , and Jacqueline . I'm still taking submissions. Please upload your audio response here: ⁠⁠⁠https://bryankam.com/record⁠⁠⁠ . I will release episodes from responses I receive, aiming for 45 minut...