Conversations in Philosophy

Circular reasoning is normally condemned by philosophers, but in his 1841 essay ‘Circles’, Emerson proposes that not getting anywhere is precisely what we need to do to find out where we already are. In this episode, Jonathan and James consider Emerson’s use of the circle to demonstrate an idealistic philosophy rooted in the natural world, in which individuals are bounded by self-created horizons, and the extent to which this fits with Transcendentalist notions of progress and independence. They also discuss what his other essays, including ‘Self-Reliance’, ‘Art’ and ‘Nature’, have to say about the importance of thinking one’s own thoughts, and why Emerson had such a powerful influence on writers as varied as Nietzsche, Saul Bellow and Louisa May Alcott.

Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:

Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://lrb.me/applecrcip⁠

In other podcast apps: ⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingscip⁠

Read 'Circles' here:

⁠https://emersoncentral.com/texts/essays-first-series/circles/⁠

Read more in the LRB:

Tony Tanner on the life of Emerson:

⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v17/n10/tony-tanner/arctic-habits⁠

Colin Burrow on the American canon:

⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n22/colin-burrow/the-magic-bloomschtick⁠

LRB AUDIOBOOKS

Discover audiobooks from the LRB, including Jonathan Rée's Becoming a Philosopher: Spinoza to Sartre:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/audiobookscip⁠⁠

In The Essence of Christianity (1841) Feuerbach works through the theological crisis of his age to articulate the central, radical idea of 19th-century atheism: that the religion of God is really the religion of humanity. In this episode, Jonathan and James discuss the ways in which the book applies this thought to various aspects of Christian doctrine, from sexual relations to the Trinity, and consider why Feuerbach would never have described himself as an atheist. They also look at George Eliot’s remarkable translation of the work, published only thirteen years after the original, which not only ensured Feuerbach’s influence in the Anglophone world but invented a new philosophical vocabulary in English for German thought.

Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:

Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://lrb.me/applecrcip⁠

In other podcast apps: ⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingscip⁠

Further reading in the LRB:

James Wood: What next?

⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n08/james-wood/what-s-next⁠

Terry Eagleton: George Eliot

⁠https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v17/n18/terry-eagleton/biogspeak⁠

LRB AUDIOBOOKS

Discover audiobooks from the LRB, including Jonathan Rée's Becoming a Philosopher: Spinoza to Sartre:

⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/audiobookscip⁠

The series begins with Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling (1843), an exploration of faith through the story of Abraham and Isaac. Like most of Kierkegaard’s published work, Fear and Trembling appeared under a pseudonym, Johannes de Silentio, and its playful relationship to the reader doesn’t stop there. Described as a ‘dialectical lyric’ on the title page, the book works through a variety of formats in its attempt to understand the nature of faith and the apparently unsolvable paradox that the father of the Abrahamic religions was prepared to murder his own son. James and Jonathan consider whether Kierkegaard thinks we can understand anything, and what Fear and Trembling has in common with the works of Dostoevsky and Kafka.

Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:

Directly in Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://lrb.me/applecrcip⁠

In other podcast apps: ⁠https://lrb.me/closereadingscip⁠

Further reading in the LRB:

Jonathan Rée: Dancing in the Service of Thought ⁠https://lrb.me/cipkierkegaard1⁠

James Butler: Reading Genesis ⁠https://lrb.me/cipkierkegaard2⁠

Roger Poole: A Walk with Kierkegaard ⁠https://lrb.me/cipkierkegaard3⁠

Terry Eagleton: A Long Way from Galilee ⁠https://lrb.me/cipkierkegaard4⁠

James Wood teaches literature at Harvard University and is a staff writer for The New Yorker as well as a contributor to the London Review of Books. His books include How Fiction Works, The Broken Estate and The Irresponsible Self.

Jonathan Rée is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books and a freelance writer and philosopher. His most recent book on philosophy is Witcraft: The Invention of Philosophy in English.

LRB AUDIOBOOKS

Discover audiobooks from the LRB, including Jonathan Rée's Becoming a Philosopher: Spinoza to Sartre:

⁠https://lrb.me/audiobookscip⁠

James Wood and Jonathan Rée introduce their new Close Readings series, Conversations in Philosophy, running throughout 2025. They explain the title of the series and why they'll be challenging a hundred years of academic convention by reuniting the worlds of literature and philosophy.

James Wood teaches literature at Harvard University and is a staff writer for The New Yorker as well as a contributor to the London Review of Books. His books include How Fiction Works, The Broken Estate and The Irresponsible Self.

Jonathan Rée is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books and a freelance writer and philosopher. His most recent book on philosophy is Witcraft: The Invention of Philosophy in English.

The full list of texts for the series:

Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

Ludwig Feuerbach, Essence of Christianity, translated by George Eliot

Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘Circles’ and other essays

John Stuart Mill, An Autobiography

F.H. Bradley, ‘My station and its duties’

Friedrich Nietzsche, ‘Schopenhauer as Educator’

William James ‘The Will to Believe’

Martin Heidegger, ‘The Thing’

Jean-Paul Sartre, Theory of the Emotions

Simone de Beauvoir, Ethics of Ambiguity

Albert Camus, The Fall

Iris Murdoch, Sovereignty of Good 

Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse