Author: Matthew David Segall
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“Retrieving Realism: A Whiteheadian Wager” published in IJTS
Retrieving Realism: A Whiteheadian Wager (PDF) Published in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, Volume 36, Issue 1 (2017) Abstract: This essay argues that the organic realism of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) provides a viable alternative to anti-realist tendencies in modern and postmodern philosophy since Descartes. The metaphysical merits of Whitehead’s philosophy of organism are unpacked in…
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Book Review of Dreyfus & Taylor’s “Retrieving Realism”
World Futures: The Journal of New Paradigm Research just published my review of Hubert Dreyfus and Charles Taylor’s book Retrieving Realism (2015). Read my review here (it may be behind a paywall, sorry about that). I have another expanded article on their book coming out very soon in the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies that…
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A Dialogue with Richard Tarnas on Archetypal Cosmology
This was a few weeks ago at CIIS.edu. I’m time-stamping to jump in half way so as to highlight that part of our discussion most relevant to the topics explored on this blog.
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The Place of Life in the Cosmos (draft of 11th International Whitehead Conference paper)
Below is the draft of a paper I’ll present at next week’s International Whitehead Conference in the Azores. Feedback appreciated! 2017 International Whitehead Conference Matthew T. Segall The Place of Life in the Cosmos: Feeling the Origin of Organism “A philosophic outlook is the very foundation of thought and of life. The…
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Toward a Communicative Cosmos: Whitehead and Media Ecology (updated draft)
Below is a draft of a paper I’ll offer at the MEA Convention in a few weeks. I share it here in the hopes that my readers may provide feedback that helps me improve it. I have something like 15 minutes to present as part of a panel on “Philosophical Perspectives,” so I’ll only be…
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My Online Course this Fall: PARP 6133 – Whitehead’s Adventure in Cosmology
I’m teaching another online graduate course for CIIS.edu this Fall (Aug-Dec) called Whitehead’s Adventure in Cosmology: Toward a Physics of the World-Soul (PARP 6133). Here is the proposed syllabus. Auditors and Special Students are welcome to enroll. Email me at msegall@ciis.edu for more information about how to do this.
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Erowid’s Psychedelic Encyclopedia at CIIS
This conversation with Earth and Fire Erowid (of erowid.org) at CIIS back in January was supposed to be recorded for a podcast, but alas, due to technical difficulties, the sound crew was unable to record it. Lo and behold, I just came across this video of the event, taken by someone in the audience. Thanks, whoever…
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McLuhan on Electronic Media
I’m reading McLuhan’s classic Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964) as I prepare a paper for the Media Ecology Association conference this summer. I’m struck by his prophetic insights into the effect of “electronic media” on the human condition. My MEA conference paper will challenge some of his basic assumptions from a (surprise, surprise) Whiteheadian…
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Tuvel’s Hypatia Article
There is a ton of commentary on this controversy, so I won’t try to summarize it. This wiki page does a decent job, as far as I can tell. Here is Rebecca Tuvel’s article, “In defense of transracialism.” It may be helpful to read it before weighing in on the controversy. It is unfortunate that Tuvel…
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Bruno Latour’s Gaian Political Aesthetics
Excerpted from Waiting for Gaia. “…it became possible for scholars to follow with the same instruments that allow us to trace the production of science (search engines, scientometrics and bibliometric tools, maps of the blogospheres), the people, lobbies, credentials, and money flows of those who insisted on making it a controversy. I am thinking here…
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Fragments on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit
Below are a few reflections after teaching a module on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit this past week. My natural inclinations draw me to Schelling’s Naturphilosophie, but every time I return to Hegel’s writing after some time apart I start to worry I’ve allowed myself to fall into a caricatured understanding of his trickster-like dialectical method. I’m reminded of…
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Media Ecology Conference Paper
Later this month, St. Mary’s College of California will host the 18th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association. The conference theme is “Technology, Spirituality, Ecology.” My paper proposal was accepted. The abstract is below Title: A Communicative Cosmos: Toward a Whiteheadian Media Ecology Author: Matthew T. Segall, PhD Affiliation: California Institute of Integral Studies Contact: msegall@ciis.edu…
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Waking Cosmos Podcast Interview
Thanks to Adrian Nelson for hosting this conversation on his YouTube channel Waking Cosmos.
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Diagramming German Idealism
I’m teaching an online graduate course called Mind and Nature in German Idealism this semester. Below I am sharing several diagrams that I’ve developed to depict Kant’s transcendental method as it evolves through the first three critiques, as well as Fichte’s radicalization of the Kantian project. I hope to continue developing this diagram to elucidate Schelling, Goethe,…
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“What if we talked politics a little?” By Bruno Latour
“If we are to accomplish the impossible feat of (re)composing a group from a multiplicity or, equally impossible, making a plurality obey a common order, it is necessary above all not to start with beings with fixed opinions, firmly established interests, definitive identities and set wills. This would guarantee failure, for any work of composition…
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A Rendition of Raphael’s “School of Athens”
A doctoral student in the course I co-taught last semester (Brief History of Western Thought) created this wonderful drawing based on Raphael’s “School of Athens.” Several of the figures are renditions of the students and faculty in our class. I thought I’d share it. Any guesses which one is me?
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Archetypal Panpsychism: Whitehead, Jung, and Hillman
Originally posted on Becca Tarnas: This upcoming weekend, on January 20 and 21, Matthew Segall and I will be presenting together for the Idaho Friends of Jung in Boise on “Archetypal Panpsychism: Whitehead, Jung, and Hillman.” Together we will make the case that a Whiteheadian cosmology is not only compatible with archetypal psychology, but provides a metaphysical…
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Mind and Nature in German Idealism: A Spring Course at CIIS
There’s still a few weeks left to enroll in my spring course at CIIS.edu as an auditor or special student. Mind and Nature in German Idealism will start on January 17th and run until May 8th. Email me if you are interested and I can share the syllabus and/or enrollment instructions (msegall@ciis.edu).
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Responding to the Alt-Right
After replying to an alt-right tweet this morning, I somehow fell through an interdimensional hyperlink and found myself reading Atlantic Centurion’s blog. Here’s his post explaining the 7 pillars of the alt-right. He elaborates on each of the seven here. I felt like offering a few reactions to each of them, which I’ll write in blue below (I’ll…
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David Graeber v. Nicholas Taleb on Political Economy
Here is anarchist anthropologist David Graeber on hierarchy in capitalism and how anthropological value theory can demystify its operations (from his essay, “TURNING MODES OF PRODUCTION INSIDE OUT: OR, WHY CAPITALISM IS A TRANSFORMATION OF SLAVERY”): What I especially want to stress here though is that, when value is about the production of people, it is…
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Towards a new root image in natural science…
Here is anthropologist Anne Buchanan on the post-truth era in natural science. I was reminded of my post on the federally-funded Brain Initiative a few years ago. Buchanan includes geneticist Ken Weiss’ list of facts that do not fit the reductionistic paradigm of “normal science” in biology at the end of her post. Weiss and Buchanan…
Footnotes2Plato 