Kieran Setiya

“Faustus, after all, was an academic who set out subversively to stretch the boundaries of human knowledge, but wound up squandering his talents … performing feats of necromancy in order to divert successive potentates even wealthier than the families of Greenblatt’s … Harvard students.”

“Given [his] ‘desire to speak with the dead’ … it’s a shame that [Greenblatt] didn’t recognise more of himself in Faustus.”

It’s been a while since I read a review like this: Michael Dobson on Stephen Greenblatt on Christopher Marlowe @lrb.co.uk

Midlife and the Moral Pressure of Limited Time | Kieran Setiya Podcast Episode · The Midlife Chrysalis · February 27 · 1h 2m

I talked to Chip Conley about moral philosophy and midlife

What Does it Mean to Live a Good, Meaningful Life? Despite the (really) Hard Stuff. With Kieran Setiya. Podcast Episode · Untangle · 01/06/2026 · 56m

For the new year: I talked to Patricia Karpas (Untangle) about how to find meaning when life is hard

Tractatus Logico-Calceatus 1. The world is the totality of socks, not shoes. 1.1. “I remember one time when Wittgenstein was mentioning Nietzsche’s remark: ‘We—i. e., philosophers—want to be learnt by heart.’ … he said that he ...

I wrote about Wittgenstein’s socks: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/tractatus-...

Tractatus Logico-Calceatus 1. The world is the totality of socks, not shoes. 1.1. “I remember one time when Wittgenstein was mentioning Nietzsche’s remark: ‘We—i. e., philosophers—want to be learnt by heart.’ … he said that he ...

I wrote about Wittgenstein’s socks: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/tractatus-...

Reader's Digest: Best Books I did more reading than writing this year—at least, so I’m tempted to say; but as I realize mid-sentence, I don’t know what that means. What common metric could make sense of the comparison? Still, it...

I wrote about the best books I read in 2025
ksetiya.substack.com/p/readers-di...

Reader's Digest: Best Books I did more reading than writing this year—at least, so I’m tempted to say; but as I realize mid-sentence, I don’t know what that means. What common metric could make sense of the comparison? Still, it...

I wrote about the best books I read in 2025
ksetiya.substack.com/p/readers-di...

Yes, and… This post is the third in an accidental mini-series on creativity, which started out derivative, took a turn through the need for a certain stupidity, and now goes slightly mad.

I wrote about impro: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/yes-and

Yes, and… This post is the third in an accidental mini-series on creativity, which started out derivative, took a turn through the need for a certain stupidity, and now goes slightly mad.

I wrote about impro: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/yes-and

The Soundtrack of a Generation | Andrew O’Hagan The Oasis reunion tour was a series of football stadium nostalgia-fests, with the fans the unmistakable stars of the show.

‘The biggest rock bands not only make the best noise but talk the most nonsense…’: the opening of a glorious, clear-eyed celebration of Oasis by Andrew O’Hagan in @nybooks.com
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

‘Their biographers love to describe them as the last of the great rock and roll bands, but actually they were the first of the great karaoke bands…’

‘Oasis is lovable and tuneful and ballsy and hilarious, which is all true. The fact that it is as toxic as glue sniffing doesn’t really matter when the feeling is so good.’

‘the Gallaghers [come] across like a couple of cut-price Descartes with egos the size of England.
“Fuck trees, man,” offered Noel one time. “Dogs piss on them.”
“Fuck the sea,” reasoned Liam.’

The Soundtrack of a Generation | Andrew O’Hagan The Oasis reunion tour was a series of football stadium nostalgia-fests, with the fans the unmistakable stars of the show.

‘The biggest rock bands not only make the best noise but talk the most nonsense…’: the opening of a glorious, clear-eyed celebration of Oasis by Andrew O’Hagan in @nybooks.com
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.

I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University

www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

An Essential Stupidity I discovered William Kentridge by erroneous inference and epistemic luck. Memory said: “This name has come up more than once in recent weeks, in venues that review art exhibitions.” Reason listened, a...

I wrote about William Kentridge: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/an-essenti...

An Essential Stupidity I discovered William Kentridge by erroneous inference and epistemic luck. Memory said: “This name has come up more than once in recent weeks, in venues that review art exhibitions.” Reason listened, a...

I wrote about William Kentridge: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/an-essenti...

Playing a game to tell the truth Two poems by Murdoch are published below Miles Leeson’s essay During her lifetime, only one collection of poems by Iris Murdoch was made widely available: A Year of Birds, first published in 1978. A s...

Newly discovered poetry by Iris Mudoch, introduced by Miles Leeson in the TLS!
www.the-tls.com/literature/p...

‘it is a person’s privilege to go to hell’ Until recently, I knew exactly one story about Alice Ambrose, to whom (along with Francis Skinner), Ludwig Wittgenstein dictated what would come to be known as the “Brown Book” in 1934-35.

I wrote about Alice Ambrose: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/it-is-a-pe...

‘it is a person’s privilege to go to hell’ Until recently, I knew exactly one story about Alice Ambrose, to whom (along with Francis Skinner), Ludwig Wittgenstein dictated what would come to be known as the “Brown Book” in 1934-35.

I wrote about Alice Ambrose: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/it-is-a-pe...

Joy in the Morning A mantra to repeat in the philosophy of self-help: being happy is not the same as living well. Philosophers make the case with “experience machines” that offer streams of blissful, meaningless illusio...

I wrote about the rituals of mourning: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/joy-in-the...

Joy in the Morning A mantra to repeat in the philosophy of self-help: being happy is not the same as living well. Philosophers make the case with “experience machines” that offer streams of blissful, meaningless illusio...

I wrote about the rituals of mourning: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/joy-in-the...

Becoming human is not that easy “In what did Socrates’ irony really lie?”, Søren Kierkegaard asked, and answered rhetorically: "In expressions and turns of speech, etc.? No, such trivialities, even his virtuosity in talking ironical...

I wrote about Jonathan Lear on the virtue of irony: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/becoming-h...

Becoming human is not that easy “In what did Socrates’ irony really lie?”, Søren Kierkegaard asked, and answered rhetorically: "In expressions and turns of speech, etc.? No, such trivialities, even his virtuosity in talking ironical...

I wrote about Jonathan Lear on the virtue of irony: Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/becoming-h...

The Art of the Impersonal Essay, by Zadie Smith In my experience, every kind of writing requires some kind of self-soothing Jedi mind trick, and, when it comes to essay composition, the rectangle is mine.

Zadie Smith writes about a secret breakthrough in non-fiction: the SIX paragraph essay!
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

YouTube video by 10% Happier How To Live Well | Kieran Setiya

I talked to Dan Harris about living well when life is hard.
youtu.be/mJnTAqB-Thw?...

How To Live Well—Even Amidst Failure, Uncertainty, Loss, and Physical Pain | Kieran Setiya Podcast Episode · 10% Happier with Dan Harris · 09/22/2025 · 1h 18m

Audio version here:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

YouTube video by 10% Happier How To Live Well | Kieran Setiya

I talked to Dan Harris about living well when life is hard.
youtu.be/mJnTAqB-Thw?...