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 understanding to transform experience.
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 my discussion group, Through a Glass Darkly.
We delved into broader themes like societal change, the impact of technology, and embodied experience versus conceptual abstraction. We wandered the streets, thinking about history, our own personal stories, and how to create meaningful and sustainable communities.
The Bertrand Russell quote I butchered is this:
“Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.”
Some sights we saw:
We also discussed a few pieces that I’ve written, on Heraclitus and Buddhist dependent arising:
A river of difference
This week I’ve been reading Kuhn’s Last Writings. One thing he proposes, in line with comparatively few in the history of Western philosophy, is that differentiation precedes identity. In other words, we recognize faces, sounds, and so on, on the basis of a set of
A few other things we mentioned:
Anab from Superflux whom Chris mentioned a few times.
I wrongly called one of the Greek schools of medicine "Dogmatist" when I should have said "Rationalist"; Sextus opposes both dogmatism and rationalism. The three schools of medicine in 2nd century AD were "Empirical," "Rationalist," and "Methodist."
Finally, here’s a view of the Uffington White Horse:
Please consider supporting my philosophical work financially, either here on Substack, or on Patreon. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Best,
Bryan
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