Author: Matthew David Segall
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Panpsychist Physicalism
[Written partially as a response to some discussion over in The Skeptical Zone]: Physicalism is the idea that the universe is fundamentally composed of entirely blind, deaf, dumb–DEAD–particles in purposeless motion through empty space. For some reason, these dumb particles follow the orders of a system of eternal mathematical laws that, for some reason, the…
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Lectures on Timothy Morton’s “Humankind: Solidarity with Nonhuman People”
Process and Difference in the Pluriverse (opening lecture) My Spring course at CIIS.edu finishes up this week with a set of modules on Timothy Morton’s book Humankind: Solidarity with Nonhuman People (2017). Earlier in the semester, we read works by Plato, William James, Catherine Keller, William Connolly, Bruno Latour, Anne Pomeroy, and Donna Haraway. Below, I…
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Searching for Stars: A Conversation with Alan Lightman
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‘Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine’ by Alan Lightman
[Update 4/19: listen to the interview here] On Thursday at CIIS, I’ll interview physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, author of the just published Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018). As of this writing, Lightman’s book is #1 in Metaphysics on Amazon.com.* Lightman begins his reflections in a cave in Font-de-Gaume, France, famous for its adornment of…
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The Nature of Consciousness and What to Do About It
A dialogue with Aaron Weiss last week at our graduate program retreat.
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“Psychedelics Today” podcast
Give a listen to my conversation with Kyle and Joe on their podcast Psychedelics Today. We discussed the intersection of philosophy and psychedelics.
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Fall 2018 Online Course: “Mind & Nature in German Idealism”
I’ll be offering this course for the second time in Fall 2018 at CIIS.edu (the semester runs from late August through mid-December). Special students and auditors are welcome to enroll! Email me at msegall@ciis.edu for more information about registration.
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Bruno Latour’s “Facing Gaia”
I’m sharing two lectures recorded for my online course this semester, Process and Difference in the Pluriverse. In these two modules, we are studying Latour’s recently translated book Facing Gaia. Chapters 1-4: Chapters 5-8:
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Spirituality and Justice: Reconciling Transcendence and Immanence
I was part of a panel at a Diversity Symposium at CIIS today.
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Process and Difference in the Pluriverse: Plato, William James, & W.E.B. Du Bois
I’m sharing the lecture from the first module of my course this semester at CIIS.edu, PARP 6135: Process and Difference in the Pluriverse. The lecture discusses Plato’s Republic, William James’ pluralism, and W.E.B. Du Bois’ critical inheritance of James’ philosophy. Here’s a PDF transcript of the lecture
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Interview for Neonosis Podcast
Joshua Fields interviewed me last week for his podcast Neonosis. Listen here: http://www.neonosis.com/e10-dr-matt-segall-philosophy-consciousness/
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Evolution & Spirituality Course at Schumacher College This Summer
If you live in the UK, or if you are traveling there this summer, I’ll be teaching for one of Schumacher College’s 3-week intensive courses Monday, June 18th through Friday, June 22nd on the topic of evolution and spirituality. The description of my week is below. Also teaching week-long modules in this course are the…
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“The Limits of Intelligence”: A New Episode of the Waking Cosmos Podcast
Another new episode of the Waking Cosmos Podcast, produced by my friend Adrian Nelson.
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Process & Difference in the Pluriverse, an online course at CIIS.edu
A trailer for my course being offered this Spring at CIIS.edu. PARP 6135 Process and Difference in the Pluriverse will explore the ethical, social, political, and ecological implications of process-relational philosophy. You could call it a course in applied or experimental metaphysics. We will read and discuss texts by radical empiricist William James, revolutionary sociologist WEB…
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Check out Becca’s presentation on her dissertation research at the International Transpersonal Conference in Prague last month.
The Back of Beyond: Presentation at the International Transpersonal Conference
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Consciousness & Technology – The Waking Cosmos Podcast
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What is Life? (Part 2)
Continuing a dialogue in the comments of my last post, particularly the question of whether rocks have agency… An organic realism would suggest that some processes within rocks do have varying degrees of agency. Crystallization is telic. Atoms are self-organizing ecopoietic agents. The periodic table of elements is a taxonomic hierarchy that sorts different species…
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What is Life? (Response to Joe Norman)
Sharing my reply below to a brilliant series of thoughts concerning the essence of life at Joseph W. Norman’s blog (CLICK HERE TO READ IT). Joe, Thanks for pointing out the relevance of N. Taleb’s distinction between randomness and an agent’s exposure to randomness for the question of “life.” Much to ponder here… My friendship with…
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Introduction to Process Philosophy
Below is a lecture recorded for the online course PARP 6060 02 – Introduction to Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at CIIS.edu. I first discuss the meaning of philosophy from a Whiteheadian perspective, then run through a brief history of philosophy as relevant to process thought (Parmenides, Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle, Copernicus, Descartes, Newton, Kant and his…
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Participatory Spirituality – An Interview with CIIS Professor Jorge Ferrer
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Whiteheadian commentary on contemporary scientific cosmology: Are the fundamental constants changing?
The following is a lecture from a course I’m currently teaching called Whitehead’s Adventure in Cosmology: Toward a Physics of the World-Soul. Watch the PBS Space Time video first for context. “The animal body is only the more highly organized and immediate part of the general environment for its dominant actual occasion [i.e., its consciousness],…
Footnotes2Plato 