“The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
–Alfred North Whitehead
-
Mechanism and Meaning: Making Room for Consciousness
The following is an exchange I had on YouTube with cosmanthony21 about the nature of “awareness.” —————————————————–cosmanthony21’s original message: Ok, lemme give it a shot. This is an interesting topic for discussion, so if you’ll humor me, Id like to write some thoughts coming to mind on the topic of awareness you had brought up. Read more
-
Naturalizing Representation
I wrote this essay a few years ago for a philosophy of mental representation course. I think I would rework a few ideas looking back, but I would still defend the idea that reality is not describable from 1st or 3rd person perspectives alone. Both are part of a larger ongoing whole/part. Q: Why is Read more
-
She Cries Wolf
t is not enough to merely believe in love.For it to be real, it must be born. Love as an idea is an empty promise.Love embodied is what moves minds and changes the world. Hate can change the world as well, but typically acting on one’s hatred is far easier than acting on love. The Read more
-
Dennett’s Dangerous Idea
I am a little more than half way through Daniel Dennett’s book about how evolutionary biology provides you with the only meaning your life needs (or at least the only meaning it can have, regardless of what you may think otherwise). Thoughts are, after all (after Dennett waves his material wand), just the side effects Read more
-
Evol
It is a disease, a poison, a curse and a burden. That is unless it comes true… unless the expectation dies to itself and is set free. Love is the one remaining cosmic mystery. Understanding its secret is the rarest gift on earth, one everyone is after. But chasing it is not being in it. Read more
-
Twins
Tickling my tummy makes it rumble because butterflies are set loose inside. The surface conceals the circus, the tent blocks the light from chasing the jitters away. A beautiful face with two eyes, one a smile and the other in pain. My prescriptions are mangled because I lack medical understanding. How to diagnose the situation? Read more
“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
Site Navigation
Follow me on social media.
© 2006-2024 Matthew David Segall
Footnotes2Plato 