Joseph Petek
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Joseph Petek discusses some of the more exciting of the Whitehead Research Project’s archival finds, including photographs of Whitehead as a teenager, while describing the atmosphere of Harvard upon ...
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Joseph Petek discusses some of the more exciting of the Whitehead Research Project’s archival finds, including photographs of Whitehead as a teenager, while describing the atmosphere of Harvard upon Whitehead’s arrival and its reception of him. The chapter discusses Whitehead’s teaching style and his students’ attitudes towards him, including those of the Radcliffe women. In its latter half, the chapter discusses the challenges involved in editing student notes together to form a coherent account of Whitehead’s lectures, providing exemplars of three sets of handwritten notes.Less
Joseph Petek discusses some of the more exciting of the Whitehead Research Project’s archival finds, including photographs of Whitehead as a teenager, while describing the atmosphere of Harvard upon Whitehead’s arrival and its reception of him. The chapter discusses Whitehead’s teaching style and his students’ attitudes towards him, including those of the Radcliffe women. In its latter half, the chapter discusses the challenges involved in editing student notes together to form a coherent account of Whitehead’s lectures, providing exemplars of three sets of handwritten notes.
Brian G. Henning
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0018
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Brian Henning’s chapter takes a close look at numerous key passages that shift our understanding of Whitehead (including, for instance, the influence of C. D. Broad as a philosophical foil), and, ...
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Brian Henning’s chapter takes a close look at numerous key passages that shift our understanding of Whitehead (including, for instance, the influence of C. D. Broad as a philosophical foil), and, just as importantly, notes the subjects and terms missing from this first year of lectures which we might have expected to find, including God and even (mostly) creativity. While there may be no ‘smoking gun’ in the lectures which fundamentally contradicts previous understandings of Whitehead, they deepen our understanding of his philosophical development, not to mention reveal his explicit thoughts on specific philosophers and scientists who are seldom discussed in his published works.Less
Brian Henning’s chapter takes a close look at numerous key passages that shift our understanding of Whitehead (including, for instance, the influence of C. D. Broad as a philosophical foil), and, just as importantly, notes the subjects and terms missing from this first year of lectures which we might have expected to find, including God and even (mostly) creativity. While there may be no ‘smoking gun’ in the lectures which fundamentally contradicts previous understandings of Whitehead, they deepen our understanding of his philosophical development, not to mention reveal his explicit thoughts on specific philosophers and scientists who are seldom discussed in his published works.
George W. Shields
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
In this chapter, George Shields compares Whitehead’s Harvard lectures to the philosophy of Charles Hartshorne, arguing that the two are united in defending the possibility of a ‘transcendental ...
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In this chapter, George Shields compares Whitehead’s Harvard lectures to the philosophy of Charles Hartshorne, arguing that the two are united in defending the possibility of a ‘transcendental project’ and an ‘ontological approach’. The chapter argues that for both philosophers, ‘something exists’ is a necessary postulate, ontology precedes epistemology, that their critiques of Kant’s noumena are sound and their return to pre-Kantian modes of thought is justified, and that formal logic and mathematical analysis are wholly necessary in philosophy.Less
In this chapter, George Shields compares Whitehead’s Harvard lectures to the philosophy of Charles Hartshorne, arguing that the two are united in defending the possibility of a ‘transcendental project’ and an ‘ontological approach’. The chapter argues that for both philosophers, ‘something exists’ is a necessary postulate, ontology precedes epistemology, that their critiques of Kant’s noumena are sound and their return to pre-Kantian modes of thought is justified, and that formal logic and mathematical analysis are wholly necessary in philosophy.
Aljoscha Berve
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Aljoscha Berve examines Whitehead’s relationship to Plato’s philosophy in the Harvard lectures, arguing that the lectures clarify Plato’s influence on Whitehead as one half of an idealised contrast ...
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Aljoscha Berve examines Whitehead’s relationship to Plato’s philosophy in the Harvard lectures, arguing that the lectures clarify Plato’s influence on Whitehead as one half of an idealised contrast with Aristotle, the mathematician as opposed to the biologist. In his published writings, Plato’s influence on Whitehead could already be seen in his adoption of Plato’s chorá, his discussion of seven general notions in Adventures of Ideas, his juxtaposition of Plato and Ulysses as representing two modes of reason in The Function of Reason, and his style of presentation. But the Harvard lectures show that Whitehead also conceived of Plato as mainly a mathematician whose metaphysics is a result of his dealing with eternal forms.Less
Aljoscha Berve examines Whitehead’s relationship to Plato’s philosophy in the Harvard lectures, arguing that the lectures clarify Plato’s influence on Whitehead as one half of an idealised contrast with Aristotle, the mathematician as opposed to the biologist. In his published writings, Plato’s influence on Whitehead could already be seen in his adoption of Plato’s chorá, his discussion of seven general notions in Adventures of Ideas, his juxtaposition of Plato and Ulysses as representing two modes of reason in The Function of Reason, and his style of presentation. But the Harvard lectures show that Whitehead also conceived of Plato as mainly a mathematician whose metaphysics is a result of his dealing with eternal forms.
Paul A. Bogaard
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
A quick comparison of Whitehead’s manuscript for his first Harvard lecture and the notes of his Harvard and Radcliffe students reveals that the manuscript does not exactly reflect the lecture that he ...
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A quick comparison of Whitehead’s manuscript for his first Harvard lecture and the notes of his Harvard and Radcliffe students reveals that the manuscript does not exactly reflect the lecture that he actually delivered at Harvard on September 25, 1924. Paul Bogaard, the editor of the first year of Whitehead’s Harvard lectures during the academic year 1924-1925, undertakes a thorough examination of the manuscript and the notes of Winthrop Bell and Louise Heath and draws some conclusions which help explain the differences between these different sources. The manuscript was likely a little long to be delivered within the allotted time on the day, and it seems that Whitehead made some adjustments of the fly, including the removal of British anecdotes with which Americans would have been less familiar.Less
A quick comparison of Whitehead’s manuscript for his first Harvard lecture and the notes of his Harvard and Radcliffe students reveals that the manuscript does not exactly reflect the lecture that he actually delivered at Harvard on September 25, 1924. Paul Bogaard, the editor of the first year of Whitehead’s Harvard lectures during the academic year 1924-1925, undertakes a thorough examination of the manuscript and the notes of Winthrop Bell and Louise Heath and draws some conclusions which help explain the differences between these different sources. The manuscript was likely a little long to be delivered within the allotted time on the day, and it seems that Whitehead made some adjustments of the fly, including the removal of British anecdotes with which Americans would have been less familiar.
Peter Middleton
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226290003
- eISBN:
- 9780226290140
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226290140.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This chapter traces the development of Rukeyser and Olson’s thinking about physics over the next two decades, as they gradually jettisoned conceptual schemes based on the system and the field. Their ...
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This chapter traces the development of Rukeyser and Olson’s thinking about physics over the next two decades, as they gradually jettisoned conceptual schemes based on the system and the field. Their trajectory is contrasted with the shifting interests in science of Robert Duncan. Rukeyser begins with high hopes of editing a major anthology on science and the humanities, but gradually loses confidence in schemas borrowed from physics. After her long poem One Life she largely abandons the use of poetic masks, and writes in The Speed of Darkness that the fundamental unit of the universe is the story not the atom. The chapter then offers close readings of science in Olson’s poems “The Kingfishers,” the unpublished “Maximus Letter #28,” and “Maximus to Gloucester, Letter 27 [withheld].” This last poem is read in detail against its sources in Whitehead’s metaphysics, which provided Olson with a readymade conceptual scheme. The final section explores Duncan’s discursive responses to public knowledge of the sciences, and gives close readings of two poems, “Apprehensions” and “The Fire: Passages 13.” “The Fire” is a poem that Olson could not have written, because it expresses and then examines the poet’s rage at scientists like Oppenheimer.Less
This chapter traces the development of Rukeyser and Olson’s thinking about physics over the next two decades, as they gradually jettisoned conceptual schemes based on the system and the field. Their trajectory is contrasted with the shifting interests in science of Robert Duncan. Rukeyser begins with high hopes of editing a major anthology on science and the humanities, but gradually loses confidence in schemas borrowed from physics. After her long poem One Life she largely abandons the use of poetic masks, and writes in The Speed of Darkness that the fundamental unit of the universe is the story not the atom. The chapter then offers close readings of science in Olson’s poems “The Kingfishers,” the unpublished “Maximus Letter #28,” and “Maximus to Gloucester, Letter 27 [withheld].” This last poem is read in detail against its sources in Whitehead’s metaphysics, which provided Olson with a readymade conceptual scheme. The final section explores Duncan’s discursive responses to public knowledge of the sciences, and gives close readings of two poems, “Apprehensions” and “The Fire: Passages 13.” “The Fire” is a poem that Olson could not have written, because it expresses and then examines the poet’s rage at scientists like Oppenheimer.
Paul A. Bogaard
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Paul Bogaard discusses Whitehead’s ‘philosophy of evolution’, tracing the concepts of organism, environment and evolution through the Harvard lectures and his published works, concluding that ...
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Paul Bogaard discusses Whitehead’s ‘philosophy of evolution’, tracing the concepts of organism, environment and evolution through the Harvard lectures and his published works, concluding that ‘evolution’ as a concept seems to fade in importance for Whitehead in subsequent years (somewhat surprisingly, given its prevalence in the lectures). Of special importance to Whitehead was the work of his new Harvard colleague Lawrence Henderson, whose book The Fitness of the Environment he recommended to his students’ attention.Less
Paul Bogaard discusses Whitehead’s ‘philosophy of evolution’, tracing the concepts of organism, environment and evolution through the Harvard lectures and his published works, concluding that ‘evolution’ as a concept seems to fade in importance for Whitehead in subsequent years (somewhat surprisingly, given its prevalence in the lectures). Of special importance to Whitehead was the work of his new Harvard colleague Lawrence Henderson, whose book The Fitness of the Environment he recommended to his students’ attention.
Jason Bell and Seshu Iyengar
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Jason Bell and Seshu Iyengar examine Whitehead’s complicated relationship to Kant, of whom he is highly critical in parts of the Harvard lectures, and yet with whom he also shares some common themes, ...
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Jason Bell and Seshu Iyengar examine Whitehead’s complicated relationship to Kant, of whom he is highly critical in parts of the Harvard lectures, and yet with whom he also shares some common themes, including ‘the limits of both empirical and cognitive investigations, and the role of the subject in generating mechanics’. The chapter argues that while Whitehead called himself anti-Kantian, what he actually rejected was neo-Kantian analytic tendencies, and not Kant himself, who never intended to promote an epistemic prison or to promote subjectivism. In the end, Whitehead’s Harvard lectures ‘represent a harsh rejection of anti-scientific “Kantianism”, but a more careful editorial revision of the scientifically minded Kant, with the addition of new discoveries in science to which Kant did not have access.’Less
Jason Bell and Seshu Iyengar examine Whitehead’s complicated relationship to Kant, of whom he is highly critical in parts of the Harvard lectures, and yet with whom he also shares some common themes, including ‘the limits of both empirical and cognitive investigations, and the role of the subject in generating mechanics’. The chapter argues that while Whitehead called himself anti-Kantian, what he actually rejected was neo-Kantian analytic tendencies, and not Kant himself, who never intended to promote an epistemic prison or to promote subjectivism. In the end, Whitehead’s Harvard lectures ‘represent a harsh rejection of anti-scientific “Kantianism”, but a more careful editorial revision of the scientifically minded Kant, with the addition of new discoveries in science to which Kant did not have access.’
Michael Epperson
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823223190
- eISBN:
- 9780823235551
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823223190.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
In Process and Reality and other works, Alfred North Whitehead struggled to come to terms with the impact the new science of quantum mechanics would have on metaphysics. This book is ...
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In Process and Reality and other works, Alfred North Whitehead struggled to come to terms with the impact the new science of quantum mechanics would have on metaphysics. This book is the first extended analysis of the intricate relationships between relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and Whitehead's cosmology. Illuminated here is the intersection of science and philosophy in Whitehead's work, and details of Whitehead's attempts to fashion an ontology coherent with quantum anomalies. Including a non-specialist introduction to quantum mechanics, the book adds an essential new dimension to our understanding of Whitehead.Less
In Process and Reality and other works, Alfred North Whitehead struggled to come to terms with the impact the new science of quantum mechanics would have on metaphysics. This book is the first extended analysis of the intricate relationships between relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and Whitehead's cosmology. Illuminated here is the intersection of science and philosophy in Whitehead's work, and details of Whitehead's attempts to fashion an ontology coherent with quantum anomalies. Including a non-specialist introduction to quantum mechanics, the book adds an essential new dimension to our understanding of Whitehead.
Ronny Desmet
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Ronny Desmet endeavors in this chapter to examine Whitehead’s theory of quantum theory and primates as found in his Harvard lectures using Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism as a starting ...
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Ronny Desmet endeavors in this chapter to examine Whitehead’s theory of quantum theory and primates as found in his Harvard lectures using Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism as a starting point while refusing to abandon the idea of continuous space-time, using wave equations as his mathematical vehicle. The chapter contains sections detailing Whitehead’s alternative theory of gravitation, his paradigm of the electron as a complex organism, and his reaction to Niels Bohr’s model of the atom. The chapter concluded that Whitehead wanted a complete reconceptualisation of the atom in terms of atomic structures of vibrations, intending to leave behind all remnants of the materialistic theory in favour of an organic theory.Less
Ronny Desmet endeavors in this chapter to examine Whitehead’s theory of quantum theory and primates as found in his Harvard lectures using Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism as a starting point while refusing to abandon the idea of continuous space-time, using wave equations as his mathematical vehicle. The chapter contains sections detailing Whitehead’s alternative theory of gravitation, his paradigm of the electron as a complex organism, and his reaction to Niels Bohr’s model of the atom. The chapter concluded that Whitehead wanted a complete reconceptualisation of the atom in terms of atomic structures of vibrations, intending to leave behind all remnants of the materialistic theory in favour of an organic theory.
Ronny Desmet
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter by Ronny Desmet has two major sections. The first is a close reading of Whitehead’s first lecture as illustrating the synthetic and critical and common sense character of Whitehead’s ...
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This chapter by Ronny Desmet has two major sections. The first is a close reading of Whitehead’s first lecture as illustrating the synthetic and critical and common sense character of Whitehead’s philosophy in conversation with Aristotle, Hume, and Kant, concluding that all three are guilty of the fallacy of misplaced concreteness and performative contradictions. The second section traces a change in Whitehead’s metaphysics from continuous to atomic becoming between his first and second semester of lectures, with Whitehead using the concept of process to harmonise divisibility and indivisibility, but eventually concluding that atomicity requires a theory for discontinuous existence.Less
This chapter by Ronny Desmet has two major sections. The first is a close reading of Whitehead’s first lecture as illustrating the synthetic and critical and common sense character of Whitehead’s philosophy in conversation with Aristotle, Hume, and Kant, concluding that all three are guilty of the fallacy of misplaced concreteness and performative contradictions. The second section traces a change in Whitehead’s metaphysics from continuous to atomic becoming between his first and second semester of lectures, with Whitehead using the concept of process to harmonise divisibility and indivisibility, but eventually concluding that atomicity requires a theory for discontinuous existence.
Brian G. Henning and Joseph Petek (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book examines the significance of Whitehead’s first year of lectures at Harvard, recently published in the first volume of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North ...
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This book examines the significance of Whitehead’s first year of lectures at Harvard, recently published in the first volume of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead--The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, 1924–1925: Philosophical Presuppositions of Science (2017). After spending a long career in England teaching mathematics, including publishing the seminal Principia Mathematica with Bertrand Russell, Whitehead was invited to join the Harvard philosophy department in 1924 at the age of 63. He would produce his most important philosophical works after his move to America, including Science and the Modern World and Process and Reality. His first year of Harvard lectures, edited together from the notes of his students, show for the first time Whitehead in the midst of developing his metaphysics and ‘philosophy of organism’ that would appear in a more polished form in his published writings. These essays by leading Whitehead scholars discuss how long-standing interpretations of Whitehead’s philosophy can now be challenged or confirmed.Less
This book examines the significance of Whitehead’s first year of lectures at Harvard, recently published in the first volume of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead--The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, 1924–1925: Philosophical Presuppositions of Science (2017). After spending a long career in England teaching mathematics, including publishing the seminal Principia Mathematica with Bertrand Russell, Whitehead was invited to join the Harvard philosophy department in 1924 at the age of 63. He would produce his most important philosophical works after his move to America, including Science and the Modern World and Process and Reality. His first year of Harvard lectures, edited together from the notes of his students, show for the first time Whitehead in the midst of developing his metaphysics and ‘philosophy of organism’ that would appear in a more polished form in his published writings. These essays by leading Whitehead scholars discuss how long-standing interpretations of Whitehead’s philosophy can now be challenged or confirmed.
George R. Lucas Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0017
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
George Lucas’ chapter begins with a discussion of all the ways in which he and others (including Victor Lowe and Lewis Ford) had misinterpreted aspects of Whitehead’s life and philosophy throughout ...
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George Lucas’ chapter begins with a discussion of all the ways in which he and others (including Victor Lowe and Lewis Ford) had misinterpreted aspects of Whitehead’s life and philosophy throughout the years, owing in some cases to a lack of adequate information, and in others to a simple lack of adequately attentive scholarship, both of which this collection of essays and the first volume of the Critical Edition help to correct. He further claims that it is Whitehead’s daily and yearly classroom lectures for serious students, not the occasional popular talks for general audiences, that should define his thought, and that the newly published Harvard lectures are thus the primary archival source materials that take us deeper into the real Whitehead than anything he formally published.Less
George Lucas’ chapter begins with a discussion of all the ways in which he and others (including Victor Lowe and Lewis Ford) had misinterpreted aspects of Whitehead’s life and philosophy throughout the years, owing in some cases to a lack of adequate information, and in others to a simple lack of adequately attentive scholarship, both of which this collection of essays and the first volume of the Critical Edition help to correct. He further claims that it is Whitehead’s daily and yearly classroom lectures for serious students, not the occasional popular talks for general audiences, that should define his thought, and that the newly published Harvard lectures are thus the primary archival source materials that take us deeper into the real Whitehead than anything he formally published.
Gary L. Herstein
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Gary Herstein points out in this chapter that there has been much curiosity over the years about how much quantum theory may have influenced Whitehead’s philosophy and metaphysics, but that prior to ...
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Gary Herstein points out in this chapter that there has been much curiosity over the years about how much quantum theory may have influenced Whitehead’s philosophy and metaphysics, but that prior to the publication of the first volume of Harvard lectures, most of this was of necessity purely speculative. The chapters begins with an examination of the chaotic scene in physics at the time, with everything having been thrown into disarray with the discovery of quantum phenomena, and particularly the introduction of discrete units into phenomena that had been thought to be continuous. Whitehead emphasised the centrality of continuity and its different modes while refusing to surrender conceptual explanations in favour of mere mathematical cleverness.Less
Gary Herstein points out in this chapter that there has been much curiosity over the years about how much quantum theory may have influenced Whitehead’s philosophy and metaphysics, but that prior to the publication of the first volume of Harvard lectures, most of this was of necessity purely speculative. The chapters begins with an examination of the chaotic scene in physics at the time, with everything having been thrown into disarray with the discovery of quantum phenomena, and particularly the introduction of discrete units into phenomena that had been thought to be continuous. Whitehead emphasised the centrality of continuity and its different modes while refusing to surrender conceptual explanations in favour of mere mathematical cleverness.
Dennis Sölch
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Dennis Sölch discusses Whitehead’s perception that science was undergoing a paradigm shift (especially given the confusion in the field of physics at the time), and hoped to bridge the physical and ...
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Dennis Sölch discusses Whitehead’s perception that science was undergoing a paradigm shift (especially given the confusion in the field of physics at the time), and hoped to bridge the physical and biological sciences and create a more unified concept of nature. With Lawrence Henderson, Whitehead would emphasize the reciprocal relationship between organism and environment, counter to both the vitalist and reductive materialist theories. He believed that biology would become the dominant science of the coming era, providing the best hope for radical innovations in human understanding.Less
Dennis Sölch discusses Whitehead’s perception that science was undergoing a paradigm shift (especially given the confusion in the field of physics at the time), and hoped to bridge the physical and biological sciences and create a more unified concept of nature. With Lawrence Henderson, Whitehead would emphasize the reciprocal relationship between organism and environment, counter to both the vitalist and reductive materialist theories. He believed that biology would become the dominant science of the coming era, providing the best hope for radical innovations in human understanding.
Maria-Teresa Teixeira
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Maria-Teresa Teixeira examines the concepts of evolution and time as they appear in the Harvard lectures and Whitehead’s The Function of Reason five years later, noting Whitehead’s influences and the ...
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Maria-Teresa Teixeira examines the concepts of evolution and time as they appear in the Harvard lectures and Whitehead’s The Function of Reason five years later, noting Whitehead’s influences and the ways in which his philosophy shifted. Unsurprisingly, in the Harvard lectures Whitehead’s views on evolution were still developing, and he did not yet associate it with reason as its guiding force. He was eventually led to ‘an original theory of evolution that emphasised time, the dialectical symbiosis between beings and their environment, and the overall importance of the environment.’Less
Maria-Teresa Teixeira examines the concepts of evolution and time as they appear in the Harvard lectures and Whitehead’s The Function of Reason five years later, noting Whitehead’s influences and the ways in which his philosophy shifted. Unsurprisingly, in the Harvard lectures Whitehead’s views on evolution were still developing, and he did not yet associate it with reason as its guiding force. He was eventually led to ‘an original theory of evolution that emphasised time, the dialectical symbiosis between beings and their environment, and the overall importance of the environment.’
Roland Faber
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823230815
- eISBN:
- 9780823235087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823230815.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
In Alfred North Whitehead and Gilles Deleuze, there are two direct accounts of “bodies of the void”, that is, of “apophatic bodies”, that conceptualize the “bodying of the ...
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In Alfred North Whitehead and Gilles Deleuze, there are two direct accounts of “bodies of the void”, that is, of “apophatic bodies”, that conceptualize the “bodying of the apophatic” (in the second sense). Both concepts undercut any negation of bodying, but negate its dualistic construction of identity and unity. A better way of phrasing it might be that they uncover bodying in its apophatic dimension of becoming, and they insist on multiplication as the veiled event in all structuring and subject-creating of the body. In bodying the apophatic, these bodies live only by the traversing multiplicities of their becoming. Apophatic bodying, hence, is the caring about multiplicity, the love for the multiple. Its event of becoming is polyphilic. In God's apophatic activity, God is the event of theoplicity, of insistence on multiplicity, in being the apophatic bodying of multiplicity, in being the polyphilic Eros of initiation and, at the same time, the polyphilic salvation of the self-created multiplicity of the World of Creative Act, thereby insisting on its diversity.Less
In Alfred North Whitehead and Gilles Deleuze, there are two direct accounts of “bodies of the void”, that is, of “apophatic bodies”, that conceptualize the “bodying of the apophatic” (in the second sense). Both concepts undercut any negation of bodying, but negate its dualistic construction of identity and unity. A better way of phrasing it might be that they uncover bodying in its apophatic dimension of becoming, and they insist on multiplication as the veiled event in all structuring and subject-creating of the body. In bodying the apophatic, these bodies live only by the traversing multiplicities of their becoming. Apophatic bodying, hence, is the caring about multiplicity, the love for the multiple. Its event of becoming is polyphilic. In God's apophatic activity, God is the event of theoplicity, of insistence on multiplicity, in being the apophatic bodying of multiplicity, in being the polyphilic Eros of initiation and, at the same time, the polyphilic salvation of the self-created multiplicity of the World of Creative Act, thereby insisting on its diversity.
Brian G. Henning
Joseph Petek and George Lucas (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474416931
- eISBN:
- 9781474496308
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474416931.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This second volume of the Critical Edition of Whitehead covers Whitehead’s second and third years of lectures at Harvard University and Radcliffe College. It reveals the development of his philosophy ...
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This second volume of the Critical Edition of Whitehead covers Whitehead’s second and third years of lectures at Harvard University and Radcliffe College. It reveals the development of his philosophy during the crucial period between the publication of Science and the Modern World and his delivery of the Gifford lectures that would become Process and Reality as he tested his theories in a classroom setting. These lectures challenge longstanding speculations about when exactly Whitehead developed some of his most famous metaphysical concepts, and how those concepts are to be properly interpreted against the wider backdrop of his life and thought.
Also included is a transcript of the only known lecture Whitehead delivered on the topic of ethics, two mid-year exams given to his students, and nearly 2,000 footnotes that provide additional context for the lectures and alternative student accounts of key passages.Less
This second volume of the Critical Edition of Whitehead covers Whitehead’s second and third years of lectures at Harvard University and Radcliffe College. It reveals the development of his philosophy during the crucial period between the publication of Science and the Modern World and his delivery of the Gifford lectures that would become Process and Reality as he tested his theories in a classroom setting. These lectures challenge longstanding speculations about when exactly Whitehead developed some of his most famous metaphysical concepts, and how those concepts are to be properly interpreted against the wider backdrop of his life and thought.
Also included is a transcript of the only known lecture Whitehead delivered on the topic of ethics, two mid-year exams given to his students, and nearly 2,000 footnotes that provide additional context for the lectures and alternative student accounts of key passages.
Brian G. Henning, Joseph Petek, and George Lucas
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474416931
- eISBN:
- 9781474496308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474416931.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Notes taken by George Perrigo Conger, Everett John Nelson, Lester Snow King, Gardner Jackson, and George Bosworth Burch during Whitehead’s class ‘Philosophy 3b: Philosophy of Science’. The topics ...
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Notes taken by George Perrigo Conger, Everett John Nelson, Lester Snow King, Gardner Jackson, and George Bosworth Burch during Whitehead’s class ‘Philosophy 3b: Philosophy of Science’. The topics covered in these thirty-six lectures are wide-ranging, but the focus is largely on metaphysics and the intersection of philosophy and science.Less
Notes taken by George Perrigo Conger, Everett John Nelson, Lester Snow King, Gardner Jackson, and George Bosworth Burch during Whitehead’s class ‘Philosophy 3b: Philosophy of Science’. The topics covered in these thirty-six lectures are wide-ranging, but the focus is largely on metaphysics and the intersection of philosophy and science.
Ronny Desmet
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474461351
- eISBN:
- 9781474480871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474461351.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
In this chapter Ronny Desmet airs some disagreements with Gary Herstein’s earlier chapter on ‘Quanta and Corpuscles’, arguing for a more nuanced understanding of Bohr’s Copenhagen interpretation. He ...
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In this chapter Ronny Desmet airs some disagreements with Gary Herstein’s earlier chapter on ‘Quanta and Corpuscles’, arguing for a more nuanced understanding of Bohr’s Copenhagen interpretation. He also notes that concept of continuity can be reasonably easily understood as the divisibility-indivisibility contrast, and that Lewis Ford’s temporal atomism thesis is note definitively dead, since Whitehead did change his mind from an idea of continuous becoming to one of atomic becomingLess
In this chapter Ronny Desmet airs some disagreements with Gary Herstein’s earlier chapter on ‘Quanta and Corpuscles’, arguing for a more nuanced understanding of Bohr’s Copenhagen interpretation. He also notes that concept of continuity can be reasonably easily understood as the divisibility-indivisibility contrast, and that Lewis Ford’s temporal atomism thesis is note definitively dead, since Whitehead did change his mind from an idea of continuous becoming to one of atomic becoming
