“The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
–Alfred North Whitehead
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William Irwin Thompson on Planetary Transformation
Adam/Knowledge-Ecology and I interviewed the integral philosopher William Irwin Thompson a while back. He recently posted a transcription of part of that encounter on his blog. Here’s a sample: So imagine in a noetic polity that a girl is born, the very fact that she is a member of that polity would empower her to Read more
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Theoretical Perspectives on Etheric Imagination
The following is the “theoretical perspectives” section of my dissertation. It introduces the ether concept I am attempting to imaginally construct with the help of Schelling, Steiner, and Whitehead. …………………………………….. This dissertation argues that philosophical thinking, to eclipse the dualistic dogmas of today’s commonsense, must ally itself with the creative power of the etheric imagination. Read more
Albert Einstein, Alfred North Whitehead, autopoiesis, Copernican Revolution, Descartes, imagination, Modern Philosophy, Romantic Philosophy, Rudolf Steiner, Schelling
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Deleuze’s Pedagogy of Problematic Ideas as an Example of Etheric Imagination
Below is another section of my dissertation proposal… ………………. In What Is Philosophy?, Deleuze and Guattari distinguish between a singular pedagogy of the concept and a universal encyclopedia of the concept.155 What does it mean to say that Deleuze’s philosophical method is pedagogical, rather than encyclopedic? It means that philosophical concepts are not catalogued in Read more
Alfred North Whitehead, Ancient Philosophy, Gilles Deleuze, Hegel, imagination, Kant, Modern Philosophy, Plato, Rudolf Steiner, Schelling
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Lecture by Prof. Jacob Sherman @ CIIS this Friday on Contemplative Philosophy
The PCC Forum will be welcoming CIIS’ own Prof. Jacob Sherman this Friday, May 3rd at 6:30pm in room 560. The lecture is free and open to the public. Read more
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John Sallis’ Logic of Imagination as an Example of Etheric Imagination
Below is another section of my dissertation proposal. More to come… ……………………………………. John Sallis begins his Force of Imagination: The Sense of the Elemental (2000) by regretting the Husserlian phenomenological tradition’s tendency to subordinate imagination to pure perception in an effort to “[protect] the bodily presence of the perceived from imaginal contamination.”208 Sallis argues that Read more
Alfred North Whitehead, Ancient Philosophy, Edmund Husserl, Gilles Deleuze, Heidegger, Heraclitus, imagination, john Keats, Modern Philosophy, Plato, poetry, Romantic Philosophy, Rudolf Steiner, Schelling
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Michael Marder’s Vegetal Philosophy as an Example of Etheric Imagination
The following is excerpted from my dissertation proposal, which is tentatively titled “Etheric Imagination in Process Philosophy from Schelling to Whitehead.” I’ll be posting more selections in the coming days. ………………………………………………….. To become rooted in the etheric forces of imagination, the process philosopher must learn to think like a plant. Michael Marder’s “vegetal metaphysics”80 provides a contemporary Read more
Alfred North Whitehead, Ancient Philosophy, Aristotle, autopoiesis, Edmund Husserl, Hegel, Heraclitus, Hume, imagination, Kant, Modern Philosophy, Plato, Romantic Philosophy, Rudolf Steiner, Schelling
“In one sense philosophy does nothing. It merely satisfies the entirely impractical craving to probe and adjust ideas which have been found adequate each in its special sphere of use. In the same way the ocean tides do nothing. Twice daily they beat upon the cliffs of continents and then retire. But have patience and look deeper; and you find that in the end whole continents of thought have been submerged by philosophic tides, and have been rebuilt in the depths awaiting emergence. The fate of humanity depends upon the ultimate continental faith by which it shapes its action, and this faith is in the end shaped by philosophy.”
—Alfred North Whitehead
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