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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Ruth Scurr on the Art of Biography

1 Dec 2021 23 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Ruth ScurrTyler Cowen

Claim mix

belief 10evaluation 7preference 3uncertainty 2recommendation 1

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Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

23 published records

03 / belief

I think Edmund Burke was exactly right about that: a profound political thinker Ultimately, I think we have to be very careful about accepting, in the first instance, that there are limits to what reason can achieve.

“I think Edmund Burke was exactly right about that: a profound political thinker Ultimately, I think we have to be very careful about accepting, in the first instance, that there are limits to what reason can achieve.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

06 / belief

Actually, I completely changed my understanding of what’s involved in loving another person and actually being gentle with another person, whoever they are — my children, my relationships with my parents, and other significant relationships in my life. I think the Wuthering Heights model has not weathered well.

“Actually, I completely changed my understanding of what’s involved in loving another person and actually being gentle with another person, whoever they are — my children, my relationships with my parents, and other significant relationships in my life. I think the Wuthering Heights model has not weathered well.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

12 / belief

We have these debates in Britain about the role of the monarch and how important — Condorcet was like, “Hey, you just need an automaton, and you can bring him out or her at Easter and any other time you feel like, Wimbledon or for the football, and it doesn’t need to be an actual person.” I think he was, obviously, being very witty — but he’s a republican.

“We have these debates in Britain about the role of the monarch and how important — Condorcet was like, “Hey, you just need an automaton, and you can bring him out or her at Easter and any other time you feel like, Wimbledon or for the football, and it doesn’t need to be an actual person.” I think he was, obviously, being very witty — but he’s a republican.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

14 / evaluation

If we think of the thought of Robespierre, it seems in some areas he was extremely radical, but in other areas, such as family and gender, he was remarkably conservative — arguably more conservative than the status quo ex ante.

“If we think of the thought of Robespierre, it seems in some areas he was extremely radical, but in other areas, such as family and gender, he was remarkably conservative — arguably more conservative than the status quo ex ante.”
Speaker
Tyler Cowen
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

15 / evaluation

Well, I don’t think history can be too biographical because, at the end of the day, we are interested in people who went before us and understanding the frameworks of their lives and the choices they made.

“Well, I don’t think history can be too biographical because, at the end of the day, we are interested in people who went before us and understanding the frameworks of their lives and the choices they made.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

17 / evaluation

I remember him once saying to me when I would give him drafts of my work, he said, “Well, you’ve got this big disadvantage, Ruth, because you write so well that it takes me quite a long time to realize that you actually don’t know what you’re talking about.

“I remember him once saying to me when I would give him drafts of my work, he said, “Well, you’ve got this big disadvantage, Ruth, because you write so well that it takes me quite a long time to realize that you actually don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

18 / evaluation

” Actually, even now with Napoleon, I think if you said to me, “Well, your next book has to be in the same mode; you’ll have to do another figure, and it has to be through their gardens,” I would really struggle with that.

“” Actually, even now with Napoleon, I think if you said to me, “Well, your next book has to be in the same mode; you’ll have to do another figure, and it has to be through their gardens,” I would really struggle with that.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

20 / preference

” Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing. But I’m always very disappointed if I go to the biography section, because — apart from anything else — it kind of looks so random.

“” Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing. But I’m always very disappointed if I go to the biography section, because — apart from anything else — it kind of looks so random.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

21 / evaluation

I think one of the concerns is with publishers and their fear about biography — that now people will not invest in reading a long life, and perhaps it’s difficult for writers to get these books commissioned.

“I think one of the concerns is with publishers and their fear about biography — that now people will not invest in reading a long life, and perhaps it’s difficult for writers to get these books commissioned.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

22 / evaluation

I think that depends on what you mean by puritanism. If you mean something approaching political fanaticism or a moralistic expectation of not just the people participating in the revolution but also those in whose name the revolution is being carried out, then yes, absolutely.

“I think that depends on what you mean by puritanism. If you mean something approaching political fanaticism or a moralistic expectation of not just the people participating in the revolution but also those in whose name the revolution is being carried out, then yes, absolutely.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

23 / preference

One of the reasons I have so many books here in my office is that I made a deal with myself when I bought my first house that I would only have books in it that I was either working on or would want to read if I came awake in the middle of the night, and that’s it.

“One of the reasons I have so many books here in my office is that I made a deal with myself when I bought my first house that I would only have books in it that I was either working on or would want to read if I came awake in the middle of the night, and that’s it.”
Speaker
Ruth Scurr
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
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