
THE PUBLIC NOTEBOOK OF MATTHEW DAVID SEGALL
Footnotes2Plato
“The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” -A. N. Whitehead

Explore the constellation
Thinkers, questions, and recurring themes from twenty years of writing.
Albert Einstein Alfred North Whitehead Ancient Philosophy Aristotle autopoiesis Brian Swimme Bruno Latour Carl Jung Copernican Revolution Daniel Dennett Darwin Descartes Evan Thompson Fichte Francisco Varela Galileo Gilles Deleuze Goethe Graham Harman Hegel Heidegger Henri Bergson Hume imagination Isabelle Stengers Kant Levi Bryant Modern Philosophy Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Plato poetry politics reason Religion Richard Dawkins Romantic Philosophy Rudolf Steiner Schelling speculative realism William James
Browse every category
- Alan Watts (27)
- Albert Einstein (86)
- Alfred North Whitehead (563)
- Ancient Philosophy (198)
- Andreas Weber (1)
- Andy Clark (6)
- Aristotle (117)
- autopoiesis (100)
- Brian Swimme (69)
- Bruno Latour (82)
- Carl Jung (64)
- Catherine Keller (37)
- Coleridge (27)
- Copernican Revolution (83)
- Corey Anton (3)
- Daniel Dennett (48)
- Darwin (168)
- David Chalmers (29)
- Descartes (161)
- Donna Haraway (34)
- Edmund Husserl (32)
- Emmanuel Levinas (11)
- Eric Smith (7)
- Ernst Cassirer (3)
- Evan Thompson (67)
- Extended Mind (34)
- Fichte (47)
- Francisco Varela (62)
- Galileo (65)
- Gilles Deleuze (74)
- Goethe (75)
- Graham Harman (53)
- Hegel (133)
- Heidegger (52)
- Henri Bergson (77)
- Heraclitus (30)
- Herbert Marcuse (2)
- Hume (63)
- Iain Hamilton Grant (37)
- imagination (505)
- Isabelle Stengers (61)
- Jakob Böhme (27)
- James Hillman (17)
- Jean Gebser (25)
- Jessica Garfield-Kabbara (2)
- john Keats (12)
- Kant (235)
- Ken Wilber (17)
- Kepler (23)
- Leibniz (3)
- Leron Shults (1)
- Levi Bryant (48)
- Meister Eckhart (13)
- Modern Philosophy (391)
- Owen Barfield (33)
- Paul Churchland (5)
- Philip Clayton (3)
- Pierre Hadot (4)
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (67)
- Plato (235)
- Pluto (3)
- poetry (100)
- politics (125)
- Ptolemy (9)
- PZ Myers (16)
- quentin meillassoux (15)
- race (35)
- Raimon Panikkar (13)
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (16)
- Ray Brassier (17)
- reason (233)
- Religion (329)
- Richard Dawkins (48)
- Richard Doyle (4)
- Richard Tarnas (42)
- Robert N. Bellah (17)
- Romantic Philosophy (175)
- Rudolf Steiner (112)
- Schelling (225)
- Sean Kelly (24)
- Seth Segall (1)
- Simon Critchley (9)
- Simone Weil (2)
- Slavoj Žižek (12)
- Socrates (24)
- speculative realism (45)
- Spinoza (33)
- Steven Shaviro (15)
- Thomas Berry (16)
- Timothy Morton (16)
- Travel (10)
- Ursula King (2)
- William Blake (10)
- William Irwin Thompson (9)
- William James (109)
- Wittgenstein (25)
Prefer a guided introduction? Start with the reading guide →
THE LIVING NOTEBOOK
Recent writing
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Facing the Face Within: Christopoetics in an Unfinished World in Process
Below is a draft of a chapter for a book on radical and process theologies. My contribution is based on a conversation I had with Peter Rollins earlier this…
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Notes from the Edge of the Ordinary
Recapping my time in the twilight zone between physics and psi in Charlottesville, Virginia two weeks ago. I left the DOPS Psi Theory Meeting feeling like I’d been sitting around a…
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Cosmology, Democracy, and the Spirit of the Earth: Talking Process-Relational Political Theology with Tripp Fuller and Aaron Simmons
I joined Tripp and Aaron to discuss the changing role of religion in public life in our tumultuous political moment. We were discussing my lecture offering a Whiteheadian process…
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Creativity and the Cross: Martinus, Bergson, and Whitehead in Dialogue
A conversation with Pedro Brea and Karsten Jensen. LLM generated transcript below. Matt Segall: Hey, Karsten. Pedro Brea: Hey! Karsten Jensen: Hi, Matt! Hi, Pedro! I’m so happy you both agreed to…
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Sancta Maria Magdalena
Last Tuesday, on Mary Magdalene’s Feast Day, I walked as a pilgrim with about a dozen others from Lewes train station to St. Peter’s Church in Firle along part…
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Romanticizing Evolution: Whitehead’s Organic Realism and the Return of Organic Science
A transcript of my talk at the Cognizing Life conference in Tübingen, Germany July 18, 2025. Other contributors at the Cognizing Life conference include: Benjamin Bembé (Witten), Bohang Chen (Zhejiang), Luke Fischer (Sydney), Andrea Gambarotto (Wien), Levi Haeck(Ghent), Craig Holdrege (Ghent, NY), Christoph…
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