Philosophy Stack Exchange
Philosophy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [whitehead]

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher known for process philosophy. He and Bertrand Russell worked on the Principia Mathematica (1910-1913).

The following sources feature or discuss A. N. Whitehead.

25 questions
13
votes
3 answers

What is the telos of a proposition?

Whitehead contends in Process and Reality that propositions are “hybrid entities” which act as “lures for feeling.” The famous co-author of Principia Mathematica scolds the traditional conventions of logic and epistemology for failing to appreciate…
Paradox Lost
  • 1,855
  • 11
  • 20
9
votes
2 answers

Self determination in non atomistic time?

I am reading the book Perspective in Whitehead's Metaphysics by Stephen David Ross. On page 182 he says, "whiteheads theory of events is atomistic-primarily to allow for self determination, but the physics of the universe are infinitely and densely…
Lee Hudson
  • 91
  • 1
8
votes
3 answers

How does Whitehead explain repeated attempts of remembrance/recollection?

In Process and Reality one of the main concepts Whitehead talks about is the symbolic reference. A derivative element of the connection between symbolic type and meaning type of species (in Whitehead's terms) in the usage of language is the act of…
Yechiam Weiss
  • 3,806
  • 1
  • 15
  • 35
8
votes
4 answers

Can we do without Necessity?

It appears that necessity is a dead idea that, unfortunately, only philosophers still gush over. The association of epistemological and logical necessity with ontological necessity ran its course from Aristotle up to the mid-nineteenth century. …
Paradox Lost
  • 1,855
  • 11
  • 20
8
votes
8 answers

What does Whitehead mean by calling science anti-rational?

In Science and the Modern World, Whitehead writes: Science has never shaken off the impress of its origin in the historical revolt of the later renaissance. It has remained predominantly an anti-rationalistic movement, based upon a naive faith.…
Mozibur Ullah
  • 1
  • 14
  • 88
  • 234
5
votes
1 answer

Should Time and Space Serve as Necessary or Contingent modalities of Division in Cosmology?

In the introduction to Process and Reality, Whitehead criticizes the tendency to posit logical or ontological necessity as the primary modes of cosmological explanation. For Whitehead time is a contingent specification of extension. Extension is…
Paradox Lost
  • 1,855
  • 11
  • 20
4
votes
1 answer

Informative diagram of Whitehead's philosophy?

I've been reading Whitehead's Process and Reality for the past few months, and I now realize that his writing is indeed very much hard to read (Concept of Nature was much easier in comparison). He does write very systematically throughout the book,…
Yechiam Weiss
  • 3,806
  • 1
  • 15
  • 35
4
votes
4 answers

Is there more to Whitehead’s “Age-Spirit” than metaphor?

While reading Whitehead’s Science and the Modern World, I found the following sentence (page 51): It is only in a period, fortunate both in its opportunities for disengagement from the immediate pressure of circumstances, and in its eager…
Frank Hubeny
  • 19,136
  • 7
  • 28
  • 89
4
votes
1 answer

Is Whiteheads 'occasions of experience' fundamentally relational?

Shimon Malin writes in Nature Loves to Hide: According to Whitehead, the ultimate blocks of reality are discrete items which he calls 'throbs of experience', 'occasions of experience', 'actual occasions' or just 'occasions' depending on context. He…
Mozibur Ullah
  • 1
  • 14
  • 88
  • 234
4
votes
1 answer

Cosmological truth and the theory of cosmic epochs

According to Whitehead’s theory of cosmic epochs and extensive continuum, there are material conditions that drive the more general metaphysical descriptions and principles. We only can account for the factors which characterize our cosmic epoch…
Myron Moses Jackson
  • 41
  • 1
4
votes
3 answers

GUT and TOE as Fallacies of Misplaced Concreteness?

A.N. Whitehead warns in the introduction to Process and Reality, that the “chief error” of Western philosophy is “overstatement.” He states: “the aim at generalization is sound, but the estimate of success is exaggerated” (PR, 1978, 7). Further,…
Paradox Lost
  • 1,855
  • 11
  • 20
3
votes
0 answers

Formal deduction of Whitehead's Philosophy of Organism

In Process and Reality Whitehead starts off the investigation by giving his categoreal scheme - different types of categories and their derivatives, as well as some axioms. If I understand correctly, and by the references Whitehead sometimes makes…
Yechiam Weiss
  • 3,806
  • 1
  • 15
  • 35
2
votes
1 answer

What are the characteristics of an event according to Whitehead?

Throughout Concept of Nature Whitehead adds different types of characteristics to his most basic concept - events. For example, he talks of objects, the situation of the event in space and time, its relation to other events et cetra. I kind of…
Yechiam Weiss
  • 3,806
  • 1
  • 15
  • 35
2
votes
3 answers

What is the relationship between Al-Ghazali's Occasionalism, Whitehead's occasions and QM?

In 1993, Karen Harding, a philosopher wrote a paper, Causality then and now: Al-Ghazali and QM. She remarked: In both cases, and contrary to common sense, objects are viewed as having no inherent properties and no independent existence. In order…
Mozibur Ullah
  • 1
  • 14
  • 88
  • 234
1
vote
0 answers

Does Whitehead's physics include atoms?

I know that one of the major points of Whitehead is to criticize the atomistic theory of nature and replace it with events. But can an atom exist as part of an event? What role does electron, protons, et cetra plays in Whitehead's philosophy of…
Yechiam Weiss
  • 3,806
  • 1
  • 15
  • 35
1
2