Category: Romantic Philosophy
-
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…
-
Evolution as a Universal Learning Process
“Meaning arises out of the most fundamental dynamics of the physical world: energy and information…[I]t is precisely via the thermodynamic forces driving cosmic evolution as a whole that meaning evolves into more complex biological and social registers such as we experience as conscious agents…[M]eaning is a particular kind of information—namely, information linking entities with their…
-
Discussing “The Blind Spot” with Gregg Henriques
Here is a rough transcript of some of my comments to Gregg: I think this book speaks to both of us for obvious reasons. The work you’ve been engaged in with your UTOK system to bring together the humanities and the natural sciences in a more comprehensive, systematic perspective, and any of the dialogues you’ve…
-
Evolution as Cosmic Cognition (dialogue with Richard Watson)
Matt Segall: Well, where do I want to begin? Richard, I know that you do a lot of work on evolutionary theory and evolution as a learning process or a cognitive process. While you have a lot of respect, if that’s the way I can put it, for Darwin’s theory of natural selection, it seems not…
-
Metaphysics, Science, and Waking Up (dialogue with Roman Campolo)
Roman and Matt delved into Whitehead’s metaphysics, exploring its intersections with modern science and spiritual experience. Roman began by asking Matt about the distinction between Whitehead’s eternal objects and Plato’s eternal forms. Matt explained that although Whitehead was influenced by Plato, the two concepts are different. Plato saw the physical world as an imperfect imitation…
-
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…
-
“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
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,…
-
Descendental Philosophy and the Confrontation with Nihilism (dialogue with Roman Campolo)
Roman has been reading my book Crossing the Threshold. In this dialogue, we explore Whitehead’s mathematical imagination, theory of perception, and attempt to overcome the nihilism that Nietzsche marked out as a pathological transition stage. Watch on YouTube for timestamps. ChatGPT summary: 📘 Perception and Reality: Perception is not merely passive reception through the senses but…
-
Artificial Intelligence, Moral Imagination, and Spiritual Evolution (dialogue with Roman Campolo)
Roman and I had another wide-ranging dialogue. Topics traversed include:
-
Renewing Philosophy (Dialogue with Tim Adalin)
Tim Adalin hosted me on his Voicecraft podcast to discuss process philosophy and its applications. The conversation opened with an exploration of the relationship between philosophy, the elite, and democracy (particularly its susceptibility to tyranny and the importance of wise leadership over populism). I emphasized the role of education in a democratic society, proposing a culture…
-
Conference Update – Metaphysics and the Matter With Things: Thinking With Iain McGilchrist
Andrew Davis and I sat down with Iain McGilchrist to discuss our upcoming conference at CIIS in San Francisco, March 29-31. In-person tickets have already sold out, but online registration is still open. Learn more and register to attend the conference online at the Center for Process Studies webpage. Among other topics, we discuss Iain’s…
-
Part 2 of my dialogue with Vervaeke and Henriques on Transcendent Naturalism
You can find part 1 of our conversation here. We spoke about the sacred, which we can discover in our relationships with one another, in art, and in our encounter with nature. I shared my attempt to recognize interiority in the cosmos, which I’ve referred to (drawing on the neoplatonic term) as the world-soul. I…
-
Transcendent Naturalism: Dialoguing with John Vervaeke and Gregg Henriques
Here is the first of two conversations that I’ve recently recorded with John Vervaeke and Gregg Henriques as part of the “Transcendent Naturalism” series. Part two is available here. Transcendent Naturalism and Process Philosophy: The episode begins with some of my reflections on the “transcendent naturalism” that John and Gregg have been laying out in…
-
Prehension: Is Experience Fundamental?
Brendan Graham Dempsey and I connected again to continue our discussion, this time focusing on Whitehead’s concept of “prehension.” I explained that, contrary to Ken Wilber’s placement of the concept in the upper left (individual-interior) quadrant of his AQAL map, prehension does not entail just an internal or subjective experience. It’s a transformative process where…
-
Kant, Reality, Freedom: Dialoguing with Mahon McCann
Timestamps:
-
Debating the Place of the Human in Cosmology with Brendan Graham Dempsey
After some back and forth in his Facebook group, Brendan was gracious enough to invite me on his Metamodernism podcast to discuss several core ideas, including the nature of scientific inquiry, the role of human experience in understanding the cosmos, and the limitations of mechanistic models in science. We discussed the intersection of philosophy, science,…
Footnotes2Plato 