Matthew Segall: The Cosmos Is Made of Consciousness
episodePreviously titled “The Cosmos Is Made of Consciousness | Matthew Segall” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
Transcript
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Why does the host compare modern physics to the Ptolemaic model?
I really have a strong suspicion that our current understanding of the physical world as this gargantuan space, mostly empty, is just as short-sighted as the Ptolemaic conception of the solar system was five hundred years ago. To live your life backwards from the perspective of death affords you the greatest possibility of living a meaningful life.
Matthew Segall is a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, whose work bridges ancient views on consciousness with modern scientific insights. In this conversation, we trace the development of philosophical thought from Plato and Aristotle's understanding of substance through Kant's transcendental idealism, non-dualism, and of course, Whitehead's process philosophy. We explore fundamental questions about the nature of reality. What is substance? How do universals relate to particulars, and what role does God play in different philosophical systems? My name is Kurt Jaimungle, and on this channel I research mathematical physics and philosophy in front of you in podcast form, bridging these disparate subjects and making abstract concepts digestible while not skimping on nor being afraid of the technicalities.
Explicates expertly, all while keeping an eye on how these recondite ideas connect to you. That is, how can any of these philosophies have real-world implications for how you live your life? The discussion culminates in Matt's vision for how process thinking may help us navigate our present potential civilizational crisis. To understand process philosophy and how it led to Whitehead and then yourself, Matt, it's useful to provide a historical account starting with, say, Aristotle or even Plato. Actually, your channels named footnotes to Plato, so that may be relevant. Then we move on to Descartes, Kant, Schelling, Hegel for sure, and then finally to Whitehead and how your views have evolved from Whitehead.
Whitehead.
Wow, okay. Whole history of philosophy just to get things warmed up. I think I need to start with Plato, though, because Aristotle was one of Plato's best students, and Whitehead famously says that all of European philosophy can be understood as a series of footnotes to Plato. Plato, though, was not really a systematic philosopher. He wrote dialogues, and in the dialogues, he explores different doctrines, but he also explores all of the best refutations of those doctrines. And so Plato was guided by intuitions, and as Whitehead says, we should be very careful about disregarding Plato's intuitions. Now the thing is, and all of his dialogues, Plato never really. Leaves us with a sense of resolution to the problems that he explores.
Famously, most of his dialogues end in aporea, which means a sort of a limit is reached where reason can't go any further. And often Plato will then share a story or a myth that's supposed to sort of symbolically and imaginatively depict the situation without providing the logical solution. Now Aristotle comes along and wants to and in fact does inaugurate um science, natural science as we think of it today, he starts to observe and classify and work out syllogistic logic that's you know, for him was kind of rooted in the grammar of the Greek language and The way that Aristotle develops his metaphysics is is an outgrowth of his understanding of the grammar of the Greek language and the logic that follows from that.
And so This logic that Aristotle develops is a is a substance property. Or subject predicate logic. I said I should say it's a subject predicate logic with a substance property ontology. And that approach works very well for classifying the middle-sized objects of our everyday experience, like tables and chairs and rocks and plants and animals. But as it turns out, as we'll see with the rise of modern science, there is a recovery of the mathematical mode of thought that Plato really championed, that Aristotle was not as proficient in. And there was a realization that this simple account of what there is in the world in terms of substances with their properties was
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why does the host compare modern physics to the Ptolemaic model?
0:00–20:01
2
How do Plato and Aristotle set the stage for the history of substance and universals?
20:01–46:09
3
What is the significance of Kant’s epistemological turn and the rise of nominalism?
46:09–1:19:31
4
How does Whitehead’s process philosophy resolve the split between matter and mind?
1:19:31–1:41:46
5
What is Whitehead’s concept of prehension and how does it explain the flow of experience?
1:41:46–2:04:14
6
How does the discussion shift to the limits of free will within a process‑oriented universe?
2:04:14–2:25:58
7
Why does confronting mortality give meaning to our lives according to Matthew Segall?
2:25:58–2:47:43
8
What practical call to inner exploration and civilization change does the conversation end with?
2:47:43–3:04:42
Speakers
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Adrian Owen: Awake. Aware. Unable to Move.
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