Alfred North Whitehead

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Alfred North Whitehead was an English[1] maThematician and philosopher. He has been called the โ€œgreatest speculative mind of this 20th century.โ€[2] He wrote on algebra, logic, foundations of maThematics, religion, philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, and education; all of which were integrated into his comprehensive worldview known today as [[process philosophy.

Whitehead's philosophy challenges over 2000 years of popular philosophical assumptions. Namely, he rejects those philosophies that value static notions of being over dynamic notions of becoming, that emphasize independence over relatedness, and "things" over events in process.[3]

Process philosophy argues that โ€œThere is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have consequences for the world around us.โ€[4] For this reason, one of the most promising applications of Whitehead's thought in recent years has been in the area of ecological civilization and environmental ethics.[5]

References

  1. โ†‘ http://www.nndb.com/people/273/000032177/
  2. โ†‘ Charles Hartshorne, The Darkness and the Light, p. 22.
  3. โ†‘ Mesle, C. Robert, 2008. Process-Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead. Templeton Foundation Press: pg 9.
  4. โ†‘ Mesle, C. Robert, 2008. Process-Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead. Templeton Foundation Press: pg 9)
  5. โ†‘ Rose, Philip, 2002. On Whitehead. Wadsworth: preface.