Process and Reality

Process and Reality

In philosophy, especially metaphysics, the book "Process and Reality", by Alfred North Whitehead, sets out its author's philosophy of organism, also called process philosophy. The book, published in 1929, is a revision of the Gifford Lectures he gave in 1927-28.

Process philosophy lays the groundwork for a paradigm of subjectivity, which Whitehead calls a "completed metaphysical language." (p. 18)quotation|We diverge from Descartes by holding that what he has described as primary "attributes" of physical bodies, are really the forms of internal relationships "between" actual occasions. Such a change of thought is the shift from materialism to Organic Realism, as a basic idea of physical science.|"Process and Reality", p. 471.

A signal technical feature of "Process and Reality" is the way its ontology is grounded in mereotopology, a mathematical formalism combining mereological and topological notions. Whitehead's exposition of his mereotopology was informal and flawed. A careful formal restatement and correction of Whitehead's theory had to await the work of Bowman Clarke (1981, 1985). For an accessible review of Clarke's work, see Simons (1987: 2.9.2). Biacino and Gerla (1991) criticised Clarke's work by proving that his connection relation coincides with the overlapping relation, which cannot be what Whitehead intended.

ee also

*Alfred North Whitehead
*Mereotopology
*Philosophy of Organism
*Process philosophy
* Whitehead's point-free geometry

Publication data

"Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology" (1929). 1979 corrected edition, edited by David Ray Griffin and Donald W. Sherburne, Free Press. ISBN 0-02-934570-7 ( [http://www.forizslaszlo.com/filozofia/folyamat_es_valosag/Whitehead_PR_Part5_Final_Interpratation.pdf Part V. Final Interpretation] )

econdary literature

*Biacino L., and Gerla G., 1991, " [http://projecteuclid.org/DPubS/Repository/1.0/Disseminate?view=body&id=pdf_1&handle=euclid.ndjfl/1093635748 Connection structures,] " "Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 32": 242-247.
* Clarke, Bowman, 1981, " [http://projecteuclid.org/DPubS/Repository/1.0/Disseminate?view=body&id=pdf_1&handle=euclid.ndjfl/1093883455 A calculus of individuals based on 'connection',] " "Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 22": 204-18.
* ------, 1985, " [http://projecteuclid.org/DPubS/Repository/1.0/Disseminate?view=body&id=pdf_1&handle=euclid.ndjfl/1093870761 Individuals and Points,] " "Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 26": 61-75.
* Lowe, Victor, 1962. "Understanding Whitehead". Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
*Nicholas Rescher, 2000. "Process Philosophy: A Survey of Basic issues". Univ. of Pittsburgh Press.
*Sherburne, Donald W., 1966. "A Key to Whitehead's Process and Reality". Macmillan.
*Simons, Peter, 1987. "Parts". Oxford Univ. Press.

External links

*Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: " [http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/processp.htm Process Philosophy] " -- by J. R. Hustwit.
* Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: " [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/process-philosophy/ Process Philosophy] " -- by Nicholas Rescher.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Process and Reality — Der Essay Prozess und Realität ist ein zuerst 1929 in New York unter dem Originaltitel Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology erschienes Werk des britischen Philosophen und Mathematikers Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). Es ist… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Process philosophy — (or Ontology of Becoming) identifies metaphysical reality with change and dynamism. Since the time of Plato and Aristotle, philosophers have posited true reality as timeless , based on permanent substances, whilst processes are denied or… …   Wikipedia

  • Process (philosophy) — In philosophy and systems theory, basic processes, or logical homologies as they were termed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy, are unifying principles which operate in many different systemic contexts. For example, feedback is a principle that figures… …   Wikipedia

  • Process theology — is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) and further developed by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000). While there are process theologies that are similar, but unrelated to the work …   Wikipedia

  • Reality — Reality, in everyday usage, means the state of things as they actually exist . [Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, 2005 (Full entry for reality : reality • noun (pl. realities) 1 the state of things as… …   Wikipedia

  • Reality Lab — was a 3D API created by RenderMorphics to provide a standardized API for writing games. It was one of the main contenders in the realtime 3D middleware marketplace at the time, alongside Criterion Software s RenderWare and Argonaut Software s… …   Wikipedia

  • Process modeling — The term process model is used in different contexts. For example, in business process modeling the enterprise process model is often referred to as the business process model . Process models are core concepts in the discipline of Process… …   Wikipedia

  • Reality television — This article is about the genre of TV shows. For the European channel once called Reality TV , see Zone Reality. Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations,… …   Wikipedia

  • Process Oriented Psychology — (POP) refers to a body of theory and practice that encompasses a broad range of psychotherapeutic, personal growth, and group process applications. It is more commonly called Process Work in the United States, the longer name being used in Europe …   Wikipedia

  • Theologie du Process — Théologie du Process La théologie du Process, est une vision cosmologique du monde issue de la théorie de la relativité. Une métaphysique en découle. La cosmologie affirme que la réalité est dans un processus constant de flux et de changement… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”