Whitehead 224x300

Alfred North Whitehead

By Ashley Steingruber

  • Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947)

    Whitehead was born on 15 February 1861, at Ramsgate England. After he had obtained his degree, he spent time in “Cambridge, in London, and in the Cambridge across the Atlantic” (Broad, pg. 140). In around 1924, Whitehead moved to the United States to continue his work at Harvard University. He died 30 December 1947; some of his most important work was done during his time at Harvard (Broad, 1948).

  • Pinnacle of Greatness

    During his time, Whitehead had published a number of books: Universal Algebra, Principia Mathematica, Mathematical Concepts of a Material World, and Principle of Relativity (Broad, 1948). But these works are not Whitehead’s greatest work. Starting in 1925, he produced 3 notable works. And in 1929, he produced Process and Reality which is considered the pinnacle of Whiteheads metaphysical works (Herstein).

  • 04.) Process

    Whitehead places emphasis on immediate experience and the entities found in an experience and holds great importance in his basic aspects of the universe (final opposites, i.e. good and evil). In this one finds process, and “process” has a very distinct understanding; which is the “becoming of actual entities”. In return, an actual entity should be understood as: “a process of realizing an individual unity of experience” (Johnson, pg. 315).

  • 01.) Process and Reality

    Process and Reality according to Board is one of the most difficult philosophical books that exist. It is difficult to understand what Whitehead is asserting and what he simply just telling you (Board, pg. 144). With that in mind, Herstein sums up Process and Reality as a comprehensive and multilayer categorical system.

  • 02.) Becoming

    This multilayered book assesses the logic of becoming an extension within the solution to the “problem of the one and the many”. Where “becoming” is an experience, and relates to the occasion’s reality that can be represented by algebraic or geometrical representation. This formal algebraic or geometrical relation is referred to as “feeling”.

  • 03.) Continuity

    This brings Whiteheads next argument of continuity. Whitehead determined that it is impossible to determine how occasions “feel” their prior occasions. Using this argument, he favors the thought of “becoming of continuity” instead of “continuity of becoming”. When an occasion has “become”, it works itself into the continuity of the universe by “feeling” the validity of prior occasions and making their validity a part of its own essence (Herstein).

  • 05.) Creativity and Novelty

    One then finds the notion of creativity in the sense of being new or perhaps original. In Process and Reality, this creativity is distinguished by the data from the past as it combines with the immediate data. This creativity is described as the “becoming,” which then creates what one would perceive as fact (Johnson, pg.316).

  • Human Experience

    Whitehead started out as a brilliant mathematician. But during his time at Harvard University he began to produce thoughts outside the mathematical world. He aimed to understand nature (both alive and lifeless), mind and matter, science and religion. He did this by attempting to join religion and science. He produced three books that dealt in this matter and suggests that the processes of understanding are contributed to human experience (Desmet, 2018).

  • The Three Major Works

    The three major works wrote during Whitehead’s time at Harvard University:
    Whitehead, A. “Adventures of Ideas”. 1933.
    Whitehead, A. “Process and Reality”. 1929.
    Whitehead, A. “Science and the Modern World”. 1925.

  • Richard Rorty on Whitehead and Philosophy

    Link text

  • 01.) Works Cited

    Broad, C. D. “Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947).” Mind, vol. 57, no. 226, 1948, pp. 139–145. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2250687.
    Desmet, R & Irvine, A. “Alfred North Whitehead.”Stanforce Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 4Sep2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/whitehead/#Meta.

    Herstein, G. L. “Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy and its Authors. https://www.iep.utm.edu/whitehed/.

  • 02.) Works Cited

    Johnson, A. H. “The Status of Whitehead's Process and Reality Categories.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 40, no. 3, 1980, pp. 313–323. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2106395.
    Rorty, R. “Richard Rorty on Whitehead and Philosophy.” Philosophy Overdose. 25Jan2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iAWTYcwlEg.
    Seaman, F. “Whitehead and Relativity.” Philosophy of Science, vol. 22, no. 3, 1955, pp. 222–226. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/185317.