Footnotes2Plato

“The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
–Alfred North Whitehead

Category: Extended Mind

Motor Oil and Panpsychism: Dialoging with Artist Johnna Arnold

April 4, 2022
Psychedelics Today podcast on Consciousness, Capitalism, and Philosophy

I had a great conversation with Joe Moore of Psychedelics Today a couple months back, and the podcast was just released today. Have a listen. In this episode, Joe interviews philosopher, author, and assistant professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco: Matthew D. Segall, Ph.D. […]

August 3, 2021
Emanation, Emergence, and Meaning: Thinking with Vervaeke and Kastrup

Here’s a link to an academic article laying out the significance of Whitehead’s panexperientialism for the hard problem of consciousness: https://matthewsegall.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/segall_ptsc_7_1_105-131.pdf John Vervaeke and I recorded a dialogue a few days after I recorded the video above. View it here: Dia-logos with John Vervaeke: Emergence, Emanation, and Bernardo Kastrup’s Idealism

May 9, 2021
Alchemical Consciousness After Descartes: Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism as Psychedelic Realism

The following is an essay originally submitted for publication in a book on philosophy and psychedelics. After some feedback from the editors, I realized it is too long and includes too many (I hope interesting!) digressions. I’ll be thoroughly revising my submission for the book, so I figured I’d share this earlier version here. Feedback […]

October 15, 2020
Rupert Sheldrake on Whitehead

I interviewed Rupert Sheldrake as part of a new series for the Cobb Institute. I’ll be speaking with a number of scientists who have been influenced by Whitehead.

September 26, 2020
Cosmologies in Question: A Debate with David Long

Thanks to Bruce Alderman at The Integral Stage for moderating.

August 19, 2020
Consciousness in the Wild

I just finished a 2.5 hour debate with David Long (moderated by Bruce Alderman of The Integral Stage). David is a proponent of “Integral 2.0,” an attempted upgrade of Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory which David feels amounts to a kind of idealistic creationism when it comes to cosmological questions and the origins of consciousness. David […]

August 17, 2020
The Rheomode Series, a YouTube playlist

I’ll be spending more time at the South Yuba River for the remainder of the summer. I’ll be recording more videos thinking with rocks, water, air, and fire. I’ll keep adding them to this playlist below. “What you thought was dead and inanimate betrays a secret life and silent, inexorable intent. You have got caught […]

July 16, 2020
Integral Entheogens (Ep. 5) – Molecular Alchemy and the Evolution of Spirit

Thanks to Bruce Alderman and The Integral Stage for putting this together! In Episode 5, Matthew Segall discusses how entheogens or “ecodelics” have impacted him personally and philosophically, inspiring some of his deepest ontological insights and courses of inquiry — particularly in the areas of panpsychism, deep or integral pluralism, and process thought. He then […]

July 16, 2020
Physicalism and Its Discontents: A Study in Whitehead’s Panexperientialist Alternative [draft]

UPDATE: Here is a PDF of the final draft accepted for publication under the revised title “The Varieties of Physicalist Ontology: A Study in Whitehead’s Process-Relational Alternative.” I’ve just finished drafting this article, which will hopefully be featured in a special issue of the Journal of Philosophy, Theology, and the Sciences focused on panpsychism. It still […]

September 29, 2019
A Panpsychism Primer

August 21, 2019
The Nature of Consciousness and What to Do About It

A dialogue with Aaron Weiss last week at our graduate program retreat.

April 11, 2018
“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.

April 10, 2018
“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.

January 6, 2018
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.

July 20, 2017
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 […]

June 11, 2017
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 […]

May 17, 2017
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 […]

May 13, 2017
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 […]

April 4, 2017
Waking Cosmos Podcast Interview

Thanks to Adrian Nelson for hosting this conversation on his YouTube channel Waking Cosmos.

February 23, 2017
Entheogens and Cosmos, the sequel [a lecture for ERIE @ CIIS this Sunday on psychedelics and the extended mind thesis]

The Entheogenic Research, Integration, and Education student group at the California Institute of Integral Studies has invited me to speak again about the philosophical, cosmological, and psychological significance of psychedelics. In case you missed it, here is my first talk for ERIE back in September called “The Psychedelic Eucharist–toward a pharmacological philosophy of religion”: I attempted to link Plato […]

January 22, 2015