Year: 2021
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Eins und Alles _ Goethe
My German is schrecklich, but since I couldn’t find any translations I liked, I spent the afternoon struggling with Goethe’s poem “Eins und Alles” (“One and All”), with a dictionary and several other translations in tow. What follows is my best attempt to render this Englishly. I am convinced that translation is impossible, but I…
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Science and the Modern World (dialogue with Sebastjan Vörös)
Seb and I discussed the history and contemporary status of the natural sciences and their relationship to philosophy and metaphysics.
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The Purpose and Profundity of Whitehead’s Metaphysics (a reply to Massimo Pigliucci)
The following is a response to Massimo Pigliucci’s recent blog post about process metaphysics and Whitehead. I keep a relatively close eye on Pigliucci’s philosophical work, as there is plenty of convergence in our views on several issues, including, as he says in his title, “the promise of process metaphysics.” Despite some convergences, I part…
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“Philosophy Chat” dialogue on Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Whitehead
Had a great chat with Marty yesterday on his podcast “Philosophy Chat.” We covered a lot of territory… those interested in German Idealism, Naturphilosophie, and Process-Relational Philosophy will have plenty to chew on.
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Goethe’s Study of Metamorphosis in Light, Leaf, and Bone
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Science and the Soul of the World: Participatory Knowing in Goethe and Whitehead
a talk delivered for the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS.edu on Friday, January 29th, 2021.
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Planetarity: On Human Futures
Had the pleasure of dialoguing with my good friends Adam Robbert and Jesse Estrin once again (prior session from May 2018). Inspired in part by this Palladium interview with Benjamin Bratton.
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Stream on Capitol Insurrection
Just finished this live stream with Jeremy Johnson and Ryan Nakade. We discussed what to call the events earlier this week (“sedition,” “domestic terrorism”?), and the ways that eco-social reality has now merged with the electronic media environment.
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“How does matter give rise to consciousness?” (response to Sam Harris)
Harris seems to presuppose the old Cartesian framework, with consciousness being that which is indubitable and which can in no way be reduced to matter. I wonder, though, what concept of matter Harris is working with here? That “matter” is a concept should go without saying, since on his Cartesian view of consciousness, we are…

