Download or read book Whitehead s Metaphysics of Extension and Solidarity written by Jorge Luis Nobo and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1986-06-30 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the base of Whitehead’s philosophy of organism is a vision of the solidarity of all final actualities. Each actuality is a discrete individual enjoying autonomous self-determination, yet each also requires all other actualities as essential components and partial determinants of its own nature. This vision of universal solidarity, Nobo demonstrates, is the fundamental metaphysical thesis whose truth the categories and principles of Whitehead’s philosophy were expressly designed to elucidate. The received interpretations of Whitehead’s thought, Nobo shows, have ignored the mutual relevance of the solidarity thesis and the organic categoreal scheme and, for that reason, have grossly misrepresented many of Whitehead’s most important metaphysical doctrines. Contending that the difficult tasks of interpreting and developing Whitehead’s metaphysics presuppose an understanding of the solidarity thesis, Nobo explores that thesis and the metaphysical categories and principles most relevant to its elucidation. In the process, he not only corrects many misinterpretations but also develops important metaphysical doctrines that Whitehead neglected to make sufficiently explicit in his published writings. It is precisely in terms of the neglected doctrine of eternal extensive continuity, Nobo demonstrates, that the more puzzling aspects of the solidarity thesis are satisfactorily explained. He then shows that the extensional solidarity of all final actualities is an essential ingredient of the generalized conception of experience on which Whitehead builds his ontology, cosmology, and epistemology.
Download or read book Whitehead s Metaphysics of Extension and Solidarity written by Jorge Luis Nobo and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1986-01-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the base of Whitehead's philosophy of organism is a vision of the solidarity of all final actualities. Each actuality is a discrete individual enjoying autonomous self-determination, yet each also requires all other actualities as essential components and partial determinants of its own nature. This vision of universal solidarity, Nobo demonstrates, is the fundamental metaphysical thesis whose truth the categories and principles of Whitehead's philosophy were expressly designed to elucidate. The received interpretations of Whitehead's thought, Nobo shows, have ignored the mutual relevance of the solidarity thesis and the organic categoreal scheme and, for that reason, have grossly misrepresented many of Whitehead's most important metaphysical doctrines. Contending that the difficult tasks of interpreting and developing Whitehead's metaphysics presuppose an understanding of the solidarity thesis, Nobo explores that thesis and the metaphysical categories and principles most relevant to its elucidation. In the process, he not only corrects many misinterpretations but also develops important metaphysical doctrines that Whitehead neglected to make sufficiently explicit in his published writings. It is precisely in terms of the neglected doctrine of eternal extensive continuity, Nobo demonstrates, that the more puzzling aspects of the solidarity thesis are satisfactorily explained. He then shows that the extensional solidarity of all final actualities is an essential ingredient of the generalized conception of experience on which Whitehead builds his ontology, cosmology, and epistemology.
Download or read book Whitehead s Metaphysics of Extension and Solidarity written by Jorge Luis Nobo and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1986-06-30 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the base of Whitehead's philosophy of organism is a vision of the solidarity of all final actualities. Each actuality is a discrete individual enjoying autonomous self-determination, yet each also requires all other actualities as essential components and partial determinants of its own nature. This vision of universal solidarity, Nobo demonstrates, is the fundamental metaphysical thesis whose truth the categories and principles of Whitehead's philosophy were expressly designed to elucidate. The received interpretations of Whitehead's thought, Nobo shows, have ignored the mutual relevance of the solidarity thesis and the organic categoreal scheme and, for that reason, have grossly misrepresented many of Whitehead's most important metaphysical doctrines. Contending that the difficult tasks of interpreting and developing Whitehead's metaphysics presuppose an understanding of the solidarity thesis, Nobo explores that thesis and the metaphysical categories and principles most relevant to its elucidation. In the process, he not only corrects many misinterpretations but also develops important metaphysical doctrines that Whitehead neglected to make sufficiently explicit in his published writings. It is precisely in terms of the neglected doctrine of eternal extensive continuity, Nobo demonstrates, that the more puzzling aspects of the solidarity thesis are satisfactorily explained. He then shows that the extensional solidarity of all final actualities is an essential ingredient of the generalized conception of experience on which Whitehead builds his ontology, cosmology, and epistemology.
Download or read book Perspective in Whitehead s Metaphysics written by Stephen David Ross and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1983-01-01 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stephen David Ross presents an extensive, detailed, and critical interpretation of Whiteheads mature thought, emphasizing the fundamental role of perspective in Whiteheads cosmology, and tracing the conflicts and difficulties therein to tensions involving perspective in relation to other central features of Whiteheads thought. Ross isolates four principles as having a fundamental role in whiteheads metaphysics: perspective, cosmology, experience, and mechanical analysis. He argues that many of Whiteheads difficulties can be eliminated by raising the principle of perspective to prominence and by revising the other central features of Whiteheads theory accordingly. This book addresses key Whiteheadian texts and secondary interpretations of Whitehead. The discussion ranges over most of Whiteheads theory in Process and Reality, and offers a number of significant and, in some cases, novel views on different aspects of Whiteheads theory: perception, prehension, causation, objective immortality, self-causation, the extensive continuum, natural order, possiblity, concreteness, and God. Rosss concluding suggestions for modifying Whiteheads system promise to occasion much debate among process philosophers, theologians, and anyone concerned with Whiteheads thought.
Download or read book Whitehead s Pancreativism written by Michel Weber and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is one question that any potential reader who suspects that Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) might be important for past, contemporary, and future philosophy inevitably raises: how should I read Whitehead? How can I make sense of this incredibly dense tissue of imaginative systematizing, spread over decades of work in disciplines so different and specialized as algebra, geometry, logic, relativistic physics and philosophy of science? Accordingly, this monograph has two main complementary objectives. The first one is to propose a set of efficient hermeneutical tools to get the reader started. These straightforward tools provide answers that are highly coherent and probably the most applicable to Whitehead's entire corpus. The second objective is to illustrate how the several parts of Process and Reality are interconnected, something that all commentators have either failed to recognise or only incompletely acknowledged.
Download or read book Whitehead s Philosophy written by Janusz A. Polanowski and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the range of Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy and his relevance to contemporary philosophical traditions. While philosophers and theologians with only a passing acquaintance with Whitehead might think that his philosophy is unconnected to our Western philosophical tradition, the contributors prove that nothing could be further from the truth. The most respected scholars in the field—George Allan, Lisa Bellantoni, John B. Cobb Jr., Frederick Ferré, David L. Hall, William S. Hamrick, Robert Cummings Neville, Janusz A. Polanowski, Patrick Shade, and Donald W. Sherburne—illustrate points of connection between Whitehead's ideas to the following: Descartes, the so-called "Father of Modern Philosophy"; classical American thought; several contemporary American thinkers, including Richard Rorty and Alasdair MacIntyre; aspects of European philosophy; and current reflections upon the environment and technology.
Download or read book Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought written by Michel Weber and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2013-04-30 with total page 1418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gathering 115 entries written by 101 internationally renowned experts in their fields, the Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought aims at canvassing the current state of knowledge in Whiteheadian scholarship and at identifying promising directions for future investigations through (internal) cross-elucidation and (external) interdisciplinary development. Two kinds of entries are weaved together in order to interpret Whitehead secundum Whitehead and to read him from the vantage point of interdisciplinary and crossdisciplinary research. The “thematic ” entries provide (i) a broad contextualisation of the issue at stake; (ii) a focus on Whitehead's treatment (if any) or of a possible Whiteheadian treatment of the issue; (iii) a history of relevant scholarship; (iv) a personal assessment by the Author. The “biographical ” entries provide (i) a brief vita of the targeted thinker; (ii) a sketch of his/her categories relevant to the Whiteheadian scholarship; (iii) a personal assessment of the actual (or possible) Whiteheadian semantic transfer to or from the thinker.
Download or read book Stubborn Fact and Creative Advance written by Thomas E. Hosinski, C. S. C. and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 1993-08-11 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "...an attractive alternative to Victor Lowe's Understanding Whitehead, Ivor Leclerc's Whitehead's Metaphysics, and Donald Sherburne's A Key to Whitehead's Process and Reality....Recommended for advanced undergraduates and beyond."-CHOICE
Download or read book Physics and Whitehead written by Timothy E. Eastman and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featuring discussions and dialogue by prominent scientists and philosophers, this book explores the rich interface of contemporary physics and Whitehead-inspired process thought. The contributors share the conviction that quantum physics not only corroborates many of Whitehead's philosophical theses, but is also illuminated by them. Thus, though differing in perspective or emphasis, the contributions by Geoffrey Chew, David Finkelstein, Henry Stapp and other scientists conceptually dovetail with those of Philip Clayton, Jorge Nobo, Yutaka Tanaka and other process philosophers.
Download or read book Leibniz Whitehead and the Metaphysics of Causation written by P. Basile and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-05-14 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces the reader to Whitehead's complex and often misunderstood metaphysics by showing that it deals with questions about the nature of causation originally raised by the philosophy of Leibniz. Whitehead's philosophy is an attempt at rehabilitating Leibniz's theory of monads by recasting it in terms of novel ontological categories
Download or read book Charles Hartshorne s Concept of God written by S. Sia and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Hartshorne's considerable writings have been influential in contem 1 porary religious and philosophical thought. Not only is he regarded as the leading living representative of process thought as well as a much respected interpreter of Whitehead, but he has also established himself as an original 2 and creative thinker in his own right. The literature on his philosophy has been rapidly increasing. His thought and influence have also been the subject 3 of a number of conferences and gatherings of scholars. One of Hartshorne's most notable contributions to contemporary philoso 4 phy and theology is his concept of God. In his writings he has set out "to formulate the idea of deity so as to preserve, perhaps increase, its religious value, while yet avoiding the contradictions which seem inseparable from the 5 idea as customarily defined." The result of his efforts has been the develop ment of the concept of a "dipolar God" (insofar as contrasting metaphysical predicates, e.g. relative/absolute, contingent/necessary, finite/infinite and so on, are affirmed as applicable to God although always in an eminent way). Inasmuch as he has elaborated this concept in close dialogue with classical theism, he also refers to it as "neo-classical". Because of the emphasis he places on the reality of change and becoming in his metaphysics (which regards God as the chief exemplification of metaphysical principles), the term 6 "process" has likewise been used to describe his notion of God.
Download or read book On the Existence of God written by Robert Geis and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2009-11-11 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The existence of God raises many questions. Geis' work addresses queries that arise from the gratuitous claims of empiricism in Hume, unfounded assumptions in Kant, presumptions of science, and the improbabilities it identifies in Darwinism. By focusing on number and proportion as intrinsic to material and atomic constituency, any argument from chance as instrumental to the cosmos' emergence and sustainability becomes invalidated. The arguments from contingency and the nature of intellection provide more clarity than the ratio Anselmi for acknowledging a transcendent causality, taking the reader to the problem of evil and present-day nihilism. These concepts present great, but not insuperable, difficulty for theism. Geis argues that evil, when one uses it as a means to the betterment of oneself and the world, takes on the rTle commensurate with the doctrine of an omnibenevolent deity. Accordingly, one can use evil as a means to a greater understanding of God, Providence, and eternal destiny.
Download or read book The Divine Matrix written by Joseph A. Bracken and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2006-03-29 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dialogue among religions has always been challenging. Today the questions are becoming more fundamental: are the various traditionsÐBuddhist, Christian, Hindu, TaoÐeven talking about the same thing when they speak of Nature, of God, Emptiness or Brahma? The Divine Matrix represents a bold scholarly attempt to provide a framework for discussing these and other questions that will keep the interreligious dialogue project from grinding to a halt. In 'The Divine Matrix' philosopher and theologian Joseph Bracken first names the idea that the Infinite is the transcendent source and goal of human activity to be the notion common to virtually all the major world religions. He suggests that the Infinite is prototypically experienced not as an entity but as an ongoing activityÐthe principle of activity for all beings (God included). This idea is consistent with the notion of eternal and continuous motion in Aristotle, with the act of being (actus essendi) in the theology of Thomas Aquinas and Meister Eckert, and with the ground of being of Schelling and Heidegger, as well as with Whitehead's definition of creativity. Bracken goes on to show that this idea is implicit in descriptions of Brahman in the Hindu Upanishads, in the experience of pratitya-samutpada (dependent co-arising) in classical Buddhism, and in descriptions of the Tao in Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu. The Divine Matrix proposes that the Infinite, thus identified, be understood as a nondual reality: an activity that does not exist in itself but only in the entities which it thereby empowers to exist. This, Bracken argues, becomes the key to understanding ultimate reality within the different world religions.
Download or read book Moral Progress written by Lisa Bellantoni and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2000-01-20 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moral Progress examines the challenge emotivism presents to contemporary ethicists. Focusing on the thought of Alasdair MacIntyre and Alfred North Whitehead, Lisa Bellantoni refutes MacIntyre's belief that a return to traditional values which once enjoyed broad social consensus will restore our moral center. She maintains that our enduring disputes over these values mark our moral progress, helping us to recreate values that will address contemporary situations. Contrasting MacIntyre's theory with Whitehead's, she concludes that in order to reinvigorate our moral inheritances we must endeavor not only to live well, but also to live better.
Download or read book Thinking with Whitehead and the American Pragmatists written by Brian G. Henning and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2015-04-16 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite there being deep lines of convergence between the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead, C. S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and other classical American philosophers, it remains an open question whether Whitehead is a pragmatist, and conversation between pragmatists and Whitehead scholars have been limited. Indeed, it is difficult to find an anthology of classical American philosophy that includes Whitehead’s writings. These camps began separately, and so they remain. This volume questions the wisdom of that separation, exploring their connections, both historical and in application. The essays in this volume embody original and creative work by leading scholars that not only furthers the understanding of American philosophy, but seeks to advance it by working at the intersection of experience and reality to incite novel and creative thought. This exploration is long overdue. Specific questions that are addressed are: Is Whitehead a pragmatist? What contrasts and affinities exist between American pragmatism and Whitehead’s thought? What new questions, strategies, and critiques emerge by juxtaposing their distinct perspectives?
Download or read book The Lure of Whitehead written by Nicholas Gaskill and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 535 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once largely ignored, the speculative philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead has assumed a new prominence in contemporary theory across the humanities and social sciences. Philosophers and artists, literary critics and social theorists, anthropologists and computer scientists have all embraced Whitehead’s thought, extending it through inquiries into the nature of life, the problem of consciousness, and the ontology of objects, as well as into experiments in education and digital media. The Lure of Whitehead offers readers not only a comprehensive introduction to Whitehead’s philosophy but also a demonstration of how his work advances our emerging understanding of life in the posthuman epoch. Contributors: Jeffrey A. Bell, Southeastern Louisiana U; Nathan Brown, U of California, Davis; Peter Canning; Didier Debaise, Free U of Brussels; Roland Faber, Claremont Lincoln U; Michael Halewood, U of Essex; Graham Harman, American U in Cairo; Bruno Latour, Sciences Po Paris; Erin Manning, Concordia U, Montreal; Steven Meyer, Washington U; Luciana Parisi, U of London; Keith Robinson, U of Arkansas at Little Rock; Isabelle Stengers, Free U of Brussels; James Williams, U of Dundee.
Download or read book Intensity written by Judith A. Jones and published by Vanderbilt University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A challenging, iconoclastic study that makes clear the underlying unity of Whitehead's vision of the world. This important and provocative book on the work of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) explores how his avowed atomism is consistent with his equally essential commitment to a view of reality as a thoroughly interconnected sphere of relations. Judith Jones challenges Whitehead's readers to reconsider certain prevailing interpretations of his organic philosophy. To Jones, a rereading of Whitehead's overall philosophic project is essential to evaluating his contributions to metaphysics and ontology. SinceWhitehead's basic worldview is holistic, a return to viewing Whitehead's work as a whole helps clarify his ontological intentions and contributions to metaphysics. For this purpose, the concept of "intensity," which Jones defines as the quality and form of feeling involved in subjective experience, is basic to Whitehead's thinking about process at all naturalistic levels and is therefore particularly useful as a lens through which to view his entire system. "Intensity" is at once Whitehead's most basic metaphysical idea and a notion useful in deciphering the overall unity of purpose in his writings. A central aim of this book is to develop an aesthetically sensitive sense of being that demonstrates the profound and original contributions of process philosophy to realism. Jones shows that a thorough understanding of the concept of intensity yields modes of thought that help overcome knotty problems in conceiving Whitehead's distinction between the private experience of individuals and the public relations those individuals experience in relationship to other entities. Drawing frequently on poetic allusions to aid her interpretations, she focuses specifically on the status of intensity in intellectual and moral experience and develops an ethics of "attention" as an elaboration of Whitehead's aesthetic metaphysics. The result is a book that should be enthusiastically greeted and debated by scholars of Whitehead and by all who are interested in the field of process thought, including students of theology, literature, and feminist studies. Jones's unorthodox conclusions, backed up with scrupulous attention to both the Whitehead canon and related secondary literature, present challenges to accepted interpretations that cannot be ignored.
