Talk:Alfred North Whitehead

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[edit] Whitehead's cosmology

“there are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths.“ Is this a whole truth or a half truth?

Perhaps the most significant thing Whitehead did was to formulate a new cosmology fit for the modern world. Having realized that quantum mechanics had knocked the bottom out of the nineteenth century sciences and their philosophy of "matter is the basis of all things", Whitehead proposed a more comprehensive philosophy of process, or organismic philosophy. This he wrote about in his magnum opus Process and Reality which is sub-titled An Essay in Cosmology. However, Whiteheadians these days are mostly theologians and uninterested in cosmology, so his four-phase universal pattern of process - which would introduce a structured holism to "life, the universe and everything", and a cosmology fit for disciplines from astro-physics to zoology - is very largely ignored today. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.61.189.104 (talk • contribs) 18:53, July 2, 2004 (UTC)

The preceding paragraph seems caught in a semantic snare. "Cosmology" means different things in physics and in metaphysics. Whitehead tried his hand at both meanings of the word. His theory rivaling general relativity is a failure, but his Process and Reality rightly lives on.132.181.160.42 07:58, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Whitehead categories

(moved from User talk:Icairns:

You changed Whitehead's category from "mathematicians" to "British mathematicians." This also brought to my attention that he's classified on Wikipedia as a "British philosopher." We should consider removing the word "British" from both. Or, we should consider using the word "English."

In other encyclopedias and dictionaries, he's referred to by sometimes using "British" and sometimes "English." Many times both words are absent and he's simply referred to as "a philosopher." In order to understand why, you must know the development of his thought and career, and know about British philosophy, analytical philosophy, continental philosophy, and American philosophy. (Maybe you already know this?) This is because, as you probably know, British philosophers usually engage in analytical philosophy. Analytical philosophy is opposed to the type of philosophy that Whitehead engaged in (he did Process philosophy, and in a sense Continental philosophy, and American philosophy prior to the American's being influenced by the analysis of Britain). So calling Whitehead a specifically "British philosopher" is somewhat of a misnomer, even if he was born in Kent.

In terms of his philosophy career, it started near his retirement age, in the United States, where Harvard offered him a position teaching philosophy when he was about 60 years old. Before this, he didn't engage much in "philosophy proper." Whitehead is certainly referred to as "British" in the sense of his mathematical/logical work with Russell in the early part of the 20th century in England, but referring to him in this way today is a bit off-key. He wrote his philosophical works later, when he was in the States, and about 65 to 75 years old, and he was a very long way conceptually from "British philosophy." The foremost Whiteheadian experts in the world, David Ray Griffin, John Cobb, etc., at the Center for Process Studies in Claremont, CA, usually refer to him as simply a philosopher, or sometimes (but rarely) as an English philosopher. See "Process Philosophy" [1]. Whitehead drew very heavily from William James and others, and his philosophy has an American flavor.

But, yes, it's also true that because of his mathematical/logical background, he is (in a sense) identified with analytical philosophy; with Wittgenstein, Quine, etc. Books were written on this relationship by George Shields and others. But the bulk of the writing by far is about Whitehead and Continental philosophy, Hegel, Eastern philosophy, theology, etc. (even things written from a Deleuzean perspective, etc.). The point is that his thought was so wide that it's all over the map (very unlike British philosophy).

I did my graduate work at KU Leuven (besides Claremont, KUL is really the only place to study Whitehead). I took a seminar with Lewis Ford, and he never referred to Whitehead as British or English, neither did Jan Van der Veken or Andre Cloots. At any rate, I'm guilty of name dropping here, true, but I'm pointing out it's probably more accurate to refer to him as just a philosopher, or maybe "English." What do you think? Aliman 08:11, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I simply changed the categ Mathematicians -> British mathematicians. I did this because of Whitehead's involvement with Russell in the Principia. You may well have an argument that he was an American philosopher or at least an 'unstated' philosopher. Clearly, we could do with more biographical information on his emigration, naturalisation, etc. You will need to look back to 8 Mar 2002 when the Whitehead article was edited to add 'British'. However, I don't think there was much doubt that (together with Russell), he was one of the most influential British mathematicians of his age. Ian Cairns 13:39, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC) (a mathematician, not a philosopher)
Agreed.
As a side note, it's common for folks to say, "Whitehead's involvement with Russell in the Principia." But Russell was the student (albeit a brilliant student). Russell did alot of work (as students do) but Whitehead was actually the force behind it. Aliman 16:38, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Whitehead was born English and never took American nationality. In his writings on the foundations of mathematics, Whitehead was a logician and analytic philosopher, just as much as Russell. But the Whitehead who created process metaphysics was not a British philosopher. No UK philosopher in the 20th century ever dared write anything with the sweep, ambition, and scope of Process and Reality. And process philosophy has had few admirers in the UK. I submit that the mature Whitehead was an American philosopher, influenced by Peirce was well as James. example, Peirce advocated an evolutionary cosmology. We know that Whitehead perused Peirce's mss in Harvard's possession, and was exasperated at the extent to which Peirce had anticipated ideas Whitehead thought he was the first to think. I do not want to detract from Whitehead's originality, because Peirce never wrote a philosophical book. To his everlasting credit, Whitehead left us with many wonderful books.132.181.160.42 07:54, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Whitehead's residency

Since Whitehead lived the last 20+ years of his life in the United States, he is properly identified as British American. I am therefore reverting the anon. erasure of his American identity. --Blainster 22:59, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Plato

Would anybody like to provide an authoritative quotation for that mot about western civilization being characterized as a series of footnotes to Plato? (Hoping I have the right idea here...!)--AlexanderLondon 23:41, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Google provides this link : The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them...

Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, p. 39 --Blainster 15:21, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] This entry needs a lot of work

I regret to say that this entry and Process and Reality) simply do not do justice to the enormous intellectual achievement of A N Whitehead, the most original British thinker since Francis Bacon. Would an expert on process philosophy please step up to the plate?

It is absolutely astounding to read Lowe on Whitehead's education in the 1880s: grubby engineering math and fair physics. Whitehead taught himself algebra and logic to write his first book, Universal Algebra. He taught himself math logic, more or less a la Peano, and Cantorian set theory while writing Principia. Then he goes back to theoretical physics and relational theories of space and time. Now well past 60, the greatest British metaphysician of all time emerges. How did he manage to reinvent himself so many times?132.181.160.42 08:09, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ghirlandajo additions

The expansion by Ghirlandajo is a welcome improvement to the article. I made two types of changes to the paragraph on Whitehead's theology which were summarily reverted. The first change deleted two phrases that were redundant in context, thus making the paragraph more consise. The second change was an attempt to harmonize the conflict existing between the two statements that Whitehead leaned towards Roman Catholicism. and Prior to the Great War, he considered himself an agnostic. "He leaned Catholic" implies a theistic tendancy, while the statement about being agnostic reverses that tendancy without any reason given. Changing "Prior" to "After" was a guess, but it would supply a reason for the change in belief (he had lost his son), which otherwise leaves the reader wondering about the implied change in Whitehead's thought. Please explain your reversions. --Blainster 22:07, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Blainster, I specifically object to your practice of inserting unsubstantiated guesses into the article. A quick search produced the following: Bertrand Russell, who knew him [Whitehead] well from 1898 to 1910, reports that they saw eye to eye on matters religious. Whitehead may have been just as agnostic as Russell, but he was much more reticent about proclaiming it. The effect of the First World War led him to cultivate a deeper religious sensitivity, but it was not until 1925 that he found a concept of God he could endorse. [Arrington's Companion to the Philosophers. Blackwell Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0631229671. Pages 534-535]. You are welcome to rephrase my assertion any way you like, provided that factual accuracy is maintained. --Ghirla -трёп- 07:40, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 03:44, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Big Bang

The final paragraph seems to suggest that Whitehead would have supported big bang. Can anyone suggest references to back up the assertions that are made here (in relation to Alfred North, that is, rather than the 'consensus' that came about 20 years after his death).?

If there isn't anything significant in his writings which explicitly suggest that big bang was part of his overview, then I suggest that most of this paragraph should be removed (leaving the reference to process physics). Davy p (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 22:44, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Need a direct quote for dualism rejection?

"Whitehead's rejection of mind-body dualism is similar to elements in faith traditions such as Buddhism."

If this rejection is important to Whitehead's ideas, perhaps someone could find a suitable quote that supports his idea. This sentance doesn't really get at anything important with regards to Whitehead's ideas as a scientist/philosopher. Maybe a quote with regards to his argument would be a good addition. Rhetth (talk) 17:49, 14 May 2008 (UTC)