Topic: Intuiting Life: Process-Philosophical Perspectives on Biology.

Presenters: Matt Segall

Matt Segall, a frequent presenter for Cobb & Friends in his role as Cobb Institute’s chair of its Science Advisory Board, will introduce a new book released in June by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Process-Philosophical Perspectives on Biology–Intuiting Life, edited by Arthur Araújo and Spyridon Koutroufinis. In order to do justice to the complexity of biological phenomena, the book aims to correct the materialistic metaphysics assumed by many life scientists. Its authors explore the viability of process metaphysics to advance our understanding of fundamental biological concepts such as organism, ontogeny, agency, teleology, environment, and normativity, based on the metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead and other process thinkers. This book highlights the uniqueness and intrinsic value of living beings, opening up new horizons in the thinking of philosophers, philosophers of biology, life scientists, and environmentalists. Matt Segall wrote a chapter in the book, “On the Place of Life in the Cosmos: Whitehead’s Philosophy of Organism and Contemporary Theoretical Biology.” Segall is a philosopher, transdisciplinary researcher, author, and teacher applying process-relational thought across the natural and social sciences, including the study of consciousness. He is Associate Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Graduate Program at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA. For details of his academic background, his teaching, and his writings, see the curriculum vitae on his website, https://footnotes2plato.com/.

Watch for further details, including information about a series of Saturday conversations with presentations by the authors. 

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