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: imagination

  • Neoplatonic Henology and the Overcoming of Metaphysics (Dialogue with Tim Jackson)

    The discussion of Reiner Schürmann’s article on neoplatonic henology in Plotinus, Eckhart, and Heidegger begins at 30:07. The first half hour is a discussion of Tim’s work on improving interactions between venomous snakes and human beings.  The conversation begins with Tim recounting his recent work in India, where he has been engaged in projects addressing the pervasive…

  • The Nature of Consciousness and What To Do About It (Dialogue with Jack Bagby)

    In this dialogue, Jack and I explore the nature of consciousness. I suggested at the get go that conscious thought is a process of “becoming other,” an ongoing participatory transformation with reality rather than a separate substance or quality somehow realized inside the head.  I opened with a couple of lighthearted but probing questions to…

  • Good Science, Bad Philosophy: Predictive Processing as Reheated Kantianism

    Below I am sharing some open-ended reflections on the turf war between enactivist cognitive science, predictive processing approaches, and Whiteheadian cosmology. … Predictive Processing (PP) approaches (including Active Inference, the Free Energy Principle, etc.) are fantastic models that will surely continue to find important applications not only in cognitive neuroscience and developmental psychology, but in…

  • Discussing Whitehead with Jeffrey Mishlove on “New Thinking Allowed”

    It was a real pleasure to join host Jeffrey Mishlove on his show, New Thinking Allowed. He invited me on to discuss (surprise, surprise) the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. We explored Whitehead’s historical context, his engagement with contemporaries like Bertrand Russell, F.H. Bradley, and Ludwig…

  • Whitehead’s Philosophy of Science

    According to Susanne Langer, who was one of Whitehead’s students at Radcliff in the 1920s, every great philosophical scheme “must, in its original form, be regarded as a myth[1], which sets forth freshly and naively some new point of view [and] reveals new opportunities for rational construction” (The Practice of Philosophy, p. 178). Whitehead understood…

  • Reflections on the Whitehead Centennial at Emerson Hall

    My trip to Harvard gave me occasion to reflect not only on Whitehead’s legacy, but on his resonances with Emerson and their shared vision of philosophical education. It was raining Thursday afternoon when I arrived in Cambridge. My room at The Friendly Inn was a few blocks from Harvard Yard, and with the rain slowed…

  • “Making Sense in Common: A Reading of Whitehead in Times of Collapse” By Isabelle Stengers

    Isabelle Stengers’ recent book Making Sense in Common: A Reading of Whitehead in Times of Collapse provides a thorough exploration of the relevance of Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophy, particularly in navigating the “post-truth” era and the broader planetary emergency. Stengers focuses on how Whitehead’s ideas can help reconstitute a form of common sense in a world where…

  • C. S. Peirce’s “A Neglected Argument for the Reality of God” (1908)

    In his 1908 essay, “A Neglected Argument for the Reality of God,” Charles Sanders Peirce offers a “humble hypothesis” meant to be accessible to the expert logician and clodhopper alike. God is identified as the ens necessarium, or the necessary being. This necessary being, according to Peirce, is the creator of all three (or at least…

  • Thinking With Owen Barfield (dialogue with Ashton Arnoldy and Daniel Garner)

    Ashton Arnoldy and Daniel Garner joined me to discuss the work of Owen Barfield. Here’s a quick summary of what we discussed: … I’ve been thinking with Barfield for many years! Here’s an essay comparing his ideas to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Quentin Meillassoux: https://footnotes2plato.com/2011/05/05/towards-a-christological-realism-thinking-the-correlation-with-teilhard-and-barfield/

  • Rudolf Steiner and the Dream of External Matter: Toward a Physiosophy of the Senses

    Over the weekend, I gave a talk at the Mysteries of Technology Conference: “Etheric Imagination as Participatory Knowing“ Unfortunately, I had to skip a few slides due to time constraints, so I wanted to share those ideas here. Below is something of an addendum to that talk, so a lot of what follows will make…

  • Rudolf Steiner’s Threefold Social Organism

    An abridged transcript of my talk is below. For a more in depth look at social threefolding, you can also check out my article “The Urgency of Social Threefolding in a World Still At War With Itself” (2023). I am grateful for the invitation to share a bit about the threefold social organism, or social threefolding…

  • Etheric Imagination as Participatory Knowing: A Process-Relational Reading of Rudolf Steiner’s “Light Course”

    Transcript:  It’s really lovely to be here this morning, though it’s quite early for me. I’ve been enjoying the last three days of the Mysteries of Technology conference very much, and I’m very grateful to have been invited. I think what MysTech is doing is important, not only for the wider world to see the ways in…

  • Becoming the World-Body

    You are not your brain, and you’re not just your body either, at least not if you think of your body as just what’s encased within the skin. To really understand what’s going on inside your body, you would need to understand its history, which is as old as the universe. Understanding the body means…

  • Between Phenomenology, Science, and Process Ontology (dialogue with James Schofield)

    In this video,  James Schofield and I have detailed discussion about process philosophy, with a focus on our respective backgrounds, interests, and scholarly work. James begins by introducing his academic journey, highlighting his studies in anthropology, consciousness, and philosophy, which led to his book on Errol Harris. He shares his dissatisfaction with traditional anthropology and psychology, which propelled…

  • Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A dialogue with Evan Sola, PsyD and Casey Paleos, MD

    A clinical psychologist and psychiatrist involved in MAPS’ phase 3 MDMA trials weigh in on the ethical and ontological challenges of psychedelic psychotherapy. Here is a rough transcript of this conversation. Evan and Casey both have chapters in a soon to be published American Psychological Association textbook on psychedelic therapy, which formed the basis of…

  • Toward a Goethean Physics: Reading Steiner’s “Light Course” (GA 320) through Whitehead’s Organic Realism

    Below are some excerpts and more or less stream of consciousness reflections upon reading the student notes from Rudolf Steiner’s so-called “Light Course” (GA 320; Dec 1919-Jan 1920). The number headings correspond to each of his lectures. These notes are helping me prepare for a presentation next month at MysTech’s “Mysteries of Light” conference.  1. Rudolf Steiner spent…

  • Radio 2050 Interview about Process Philosophy

    Alanna Goldsmith from Radio 2050 interviewed me last year in the hopes that I might introduce process philosophy to a general audience. You can listen to the episode (interspersed with musical interludes) by following this link: https://radioparadise.com/episode/matt-segall; or read the transcript of my remarks below. Alanna Goldsmith: Today we’ll be taking a bit of a philosophical…

  • “Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self” by Andrea Wulf

    I joined Rupert Sheldrake and David Lorimer to discuss Wulf’s brilliant book on the “Jena set” (the Schlegels, Schiller, Goethe, Caroline, Novalis, Schelling, etc.).

  • Schelling and the Return of Organic Science

    Below is a video (talk, then Q&A) and transcript of my talk yesterday for the Scientific and Medical Network. I’m hoping to be able to share the video at a later date. … David Lorimer: This evening, we are looking forward to Matt Segall’s talk about Schelling and the return of organic science. There has been significant…

  • “In Defense of Truth as Participation,” my McGilchrist Conference Presentation

    “In Defense of Truth as Participation,” my McGilchrist Conference Presentation

    First, here’s a clip of Iain McGilchrist’s impromptu remarks on the opening night of our “Metaphysics and the Matter With Things” conference (which happened to be Good Friday). Next, my welcome and opening comments about the conference (partial transcript to follow):  Welcome to CIIS. I’m Matt Segall. I’m an associate professor here in the Philosophy,…

  • Transcendent Love and the Possibility of Revolutionary Political Change

    I’ll be joining Cadell Last on Philosophy Portal next week to discuss the relationship between politics and love. At least as I relate to the topic, this is fundamentally a question of political theology. I’ve explored this terrain frequently over the years (eg, this process theological response to Carl Schmitt).  In this post, I’ve dug up some old exchanges with Levi…