In the following ethnography of the California Coalition of Women Prisoners (CCWP), who exist at the forefront of feminist prison activism, I address canonical feminist debates focused on the relationship between subjectivity, experience, knowledge, and power by closely following an explicit attempt at political reform by and for women. I argue that feminist prison activists' attempts to reform the American prison system reveal why feminist theorists must remain committed to a specific, contextual, and localized analysis of the prospects for political (...) empowerment. (shrink)

The principal goal of this essay is to examine the manner and extent to which one actual occasion can have value for others according to Whitehead. This question divides into two, depending upon whether we are considering the relation of an entity to its past or to its future. The essay closes with a defense of the monistic interpretation of creativity in Whitehead.

Euclid’s definition of a point as “that which has no part” has been a major source of controversy in relation to the epistemological and ontological presuppositions of classical geometry, from the medieval and modern disputes on indivisibilism to the full development of point-free geometries in the 20th century. Such theories stem from the general idea that all talk of points as putative lower-dimensional entities must and can be recovered in terms of suitable higher-order constructs involving only extended regions (or bodies). (...) Here I focus on what is arguably the first thorough proposal of this sort, Whitehead’s theory of “extensive abstraction”, offering a critical reconstruction of the theory through its successive installments: from the purely mereological version of ‘La théorie relationniste de l’espace’ (1916) to the refined versions presented in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge (1919) and in The Concept of Nature (1920) to the last, mereotopological version of Process and Reality (1929). (shrink)

This paper looks at the history of the problem of individuation from Plato to Whitehead. Part I takes as its point of departure Reiner Wiehl’s interpretation of the different meanings of “abstract” in the metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead and arrives at a corresponding taxonomy of different ways things can be called concrete. Part II compares the way philosophers in different periods understand the relation between thought and intuition. The view mostly associated with ancient philosophy is that thought (...) and sense-perception target different kinds of objects. The view mostly associated with modern philosophy (although it was introduced by the Stoics) is that thought and sense-perception are different ways of targeting the same objects. These differences have specific consequences for theories of individuation, which are assessed historically in Part III and then applied to Whitehead’s difficult texts in part IV. (shrink)

Chapter I The Legacy of the Sixties Throughout the past two decades Christian theology has been passing through a state of ferment which shows few signs of ...

Archetypal Process is a pioneering study linking the ideas of process philosophy, as developed by Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, with the archetypal psychology of C. G. Jung and James Hillman. This is the first work to examine the interconnections of these two modes of thought. Archetypal Process examines the importance of cosmological thinking and the need to ground archetypal psychology in a metaphysical, philosophical framework. It treats the necessity for symbol and myth, the nature of the spirit, (...) and language as a metaphorical vehicle of thought, and finally, it adds a much-needed feminist perspective to the debate. (shrink)

The chora is one of the most perplexing as well as neglected concepts in Whitehead's metaphysics. Explicitly drawing on Plato's Receptacle, Whitehead reinterprets the chora as the place, in between physics and metaphysics, where connections among actual entities happen. However, the relation between Whitehead's and Plato's choral remains widely unexplored. This article aims to correct this oversight By comparing the two philosophers, I intend to argue that, differences aside, the two philosophers adopted the chora to answer the (...) common question as to how things can be identified in the flux of events. In this way, I hope not only to clarify the obscure role of the chora in Whitehead's metaphysics and its relation to Plato, but also to explore the complex process of identification. (shrink)

A. N. Whitehead's approach to physical theorizing contrasts with that of mainstream or official physics in being centrally concerned with articulating a background explanation of physical facts and phenomena in general that would take the place of the “ether” of classical physics, a project otherwise unpursued by the science in its modern period. Unlike Einstein's, Whitehead's approach to relativity primarily seeks explanation rather than utility ; also, it avoids the philosophical problems with Einstein's theory alleged by Whitehead (...) and a range of other philosophers. This stops short of a finding as to the comparative worth of Whitehead's alternative basis for quantitative formulations. (shrink)

Considered together, Butler and Whitehead draw from a wide palette of disciplines to develop distinctive theories of becoming, of syntactical violence, and creative opportunities of limitation. The contributors of this volume offer a unique contribution to and for the humanities in the struggles of politics, economy, ecology, and the arts.

Jean-Claude Dumoncel et Michel Weber, Whitehead ou Le Cosmos torrentiel. Introductions à Procès et réalité, Louvain-la-Neuve, Les Éditions Chromatika, 2010. (978-2-930517-05-6 ; 193 p. ; 20 € ; ) Les études whiteheadiennes françaises — et tout particulièrement la diffusion et l’interprétation de Process and Reality (1929) — ont beaucoup souffert de l’absence d’introductions globales et systématiques évitant à la fois le jargon et les interprétations de l’auteur à partir d’un point de vue qui lui est étranger. La présente duographie (...) vise à combler ce vide. Les deux études qui la composent, dont l’une devait trouver un écho dans Le Pli (1988) de Deleuze, cherchent à extraire la vision whiteheadienne de l'expérience, intégralement comprise. Jean-Claude Dumoncel enseigne la logique et la philosophie de la nature à Caen. Après sa thèse de doctorat sur Le Système de Whitehead et la philosophie analytique (1987), il a publié, e.g., Le Jeu de Wittgenstein (1991), Les Sept mots de Whitehead (1998), La Philosophie telle quelle (2004) et Deleuze face à face (2009). Michel Weber dirige le Centre de philosophie pratique « Chromatiques whiteheadiennes » à Bruxelles. Après sa thèse de doctorat sur l’Euristique du pancréativisme de l’époque de Harvard (1997), il a publié, e.g., La Dialectique de l’intuition chez A. N. Whitehead (2005), Whitehead’s Pancreativism (2006), L'Épreuve de la philosophie (2008) et Éduquer (à) l’anarchie (2008). (shrink)

Ronny Desmet & Michel Weber (edited by), Whitehead. The Algebra of Metaphysics. Applied Process Metaphysics Summer Institute Memorandum, Louvain-la-Neuve, Les Éditions Chromatika, 2010. (978-2-930517-08-7 ; 378 p. ; 40 € ; ) Drawing upon the major Harvard works —Science and the Modern World (1925), Process and Reality (1929) and Adventures of Ideas (1933)—, the essays gathered here on the occasion of the creation of the Applied Process Metaphysics Summer Institute, seek, first, to introduce into Whitehead’s thought by clarifying (...) what is at stake in his philosophy and by providing a synoptic vision of his key categories in light of their historical development and, second, to foster a creative dialogue among all participants. These essays give the opportunity to travel through most aspects of Whitehead’s legacy: anthropology, ecology, education, epistemology, metaphysics, psychology, political theory and relativity physics. Ronny Desmet holds an M.A. in mathematics (1983), an M.A. and a Ph.D. in philosophy (2005 and 2010). He is currently research assistant at the Centre of Logic and Philosophy of Science, Free University of Brussels. His research and publications have focused on Whitehead’s philosophy of mathematics and relativity. Michel Weber holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in philosophy (1991 and 1997). He is the director of the Centre for Philosophical Practice “Chromatiques whiteheadiennes.” He has published more than 50 books, e.g., Whitehead’s Pancreativism. The Basics (2006) and the Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought (2008). (shrink)

An essay first published in 1917 presents key insights and ideas that shaped Whitehead’s physics and metaphysics. It also displays his apparently lifelong view that science cut off from philosophy (which for him meant, or at some point led to, metaphysics) will fall short in its vital mission of explaining facts and phenomena—a view dissenting sharply from reigning doctrines of the modem era. His largely implicit criticism of the modem assumption that science as such can do without philosophy merits (...) clarification and evaluation. (shrink)

The idea behind the essay is that whitehead's philosophy provides a conceptuality whereby buddhist and christian thought and existence may enrich each other. This essay focuses upon buddhist thought, Primarily as interpreted by conze, Suggesting that whitehead might help it overcome what have evidently been felt as inherent problems, Including the failure to generate sustained programs to improve outer conditions. Four buddhist doctrines are compared with correlative whiteheadian notions. Of special importance is whitehead's doctrine of partial conformity (...) of experience to inherent subjective forms of the data of perception, In contrast with the buddhist doctrine of the affective neutrality of these data, Implying that all affective responses are totally volitional. (shrink)

ABSTRACT One way of characterizing the ontological turn in anthropology is the effort to transform philosophical anthropology into anthropological philosophy—or anthropology into philosophy. This effort proceeds upon the premise that to critique philosophical representationalism is to critique the entire rationalist enterprise. It is as a result of this coupling that some OTers suggest that a permanently decolonized philosophy becomes indistinguishable from post-representationalist anthropology. Curiously, it is by thinking with Gilles Deleuze that they conclude, on the one hand, that to decolonize (...) anthropology is to de-representationalize it, and, on the other, that to decolonize philosophy is therefore to anthropologize it (since, on their logic, de-representationalizing means de-philosophizing). To turn to ontology means “thinking immanence” not, pace Deleuze, as philosophy, but beyond philosophy. This article argues that the supersessionist claim is incoherent precisely insofar as this coupling is unwarranted. To provide a counterinstance, the article suggests how thinking with Alfred North Whitehead decouples the critique of representationalism from the critique of rationalism. One implication of this work is to model a speculative philosophy that can be responsive to postcolonial concerns about representationalism without thereby becoming functionally indistinct from anthropological method. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:Analytic philosophers have criticized A. N. Whitehead's metaphysics for being obscure, yet several such philosophers have espoused positions in metaphysics and philosophy of mind that were advanced by Whitehead in the 1920s. In this paper, we evaluate the merits and demerits of these criticisms by Bertrand Russell, W. V. Quine, Karl Popper, and others and then demonstrate the affinities and contrasts in the positions advanced by Galen Strawson, David Chalmers, Thomas Nagel, and Whitehead regarding so-called ‘analytic panexperientialism’.

In Process and Reality Professor A. N. Whitehead formulates a Cosmology which embodies a resolute attempt to combine in one philosophical synthesis a scientific account of Concrescence with a metaphysical explanation thereof in terms of Creativity.

At the fore of concern within Whitehead scholarship are the main interpretive issues revolving around the relationships of God, creativity, and the world. Some critics have charged that Whitehead’s mature thought suffers from a lack of coherence in his formulation of the relationship between God and creativity as they function in cosmic generativity, a charge proven difficult to overcome. Such critics have posed the following question. In light of Whitehead’s commitment to the Ontological Principle, how can God (...) and creativity stand as separate formative elements in the world’s creative advance? This question illustrates, some say, how the separation of God from creativity within Whitehead’s process philosophy.. (shrink)

This essay responds to Lewis Ford’s “Allan’s Atheism,” in which he assesses a recent essay of mine that finds God an unnecessary and indeed coherence-destroying addition to Process and Reality. I clarify my position by showing how Whitehead’s notions of physical purpose and aesthetic determination adequately account for the novelty required for an actual occasion’s concrescence and for increases in achieved value. I then criticize Ford’s claim that genuine novelties must have a divine origin and that in Adventures of (...) Ideas the Eros of the Universe refers to God. (shrink)

A highly accessible reading of Whitehead's writings on education and their connection to his metaphysics.

_A highly accessible reading of Whitehead's writings on education and their connection to his metaphysics._.

We need to distinguish systematically what is culturally creative from the degenerative forces that now rule the world. Whitehead comes closest to defining the creative when he identifies it as freedom on the human side and peace on the divine. Buddhist meditation can go deeper to realize the zero-dimension of the communal life-as-such, which corresponds to Whiteheadean freedom-and-peace as the ultimate wellspring of cultural creativity.

O artigo apresenta uma releitura do problema da lacuna explicativa partindo do empirismo de William James e Alfred N. Whitehead. Segundo as respectivas noções de experiência e processo de James e Whitehead, o artigo procura mostrar que a lacuna explicativa é um mito filosófico na medida em que sustenta uma continuidade ontológica ao mesmo tempo conjugada com uma descontinuidade epistemológica entre mente e mundo ou mente e cérebro – em particular, como ilustração dessa incongruência entre continuidade e descontinuidade, (...) o núcleo do artigo se concentra em torno da revisão do chamado problema dos qualia. Partindo do empirismo de James e Whitehead, e tendo em vista a noção de continuidade, o artigo indica uma alternativa ao déficit epistemológico da lacuna explicativa assim como à visão internalista de mente que ela inspira – a ideia de que a mente está enclausurada no cérebro. Como resultado final, o artigo indica a atualidade do empirismo de James e Whitehead em consonância com as crescentes abordagens não-internalistas de mente e cognição em termos de continuidade que as noções respectivas de James e Whitehead de experiência e processo sugerem. (shrink)

If one believes the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, Alfred North Whitehead's work is one of the most important events in the exploration of the universes of thought in recent times. Whitehead's text confronts us with the feeling of existing in a world that cannot be defined by any creed or method, but offers us unexpected friends: ideas--ideas that unleash and alleviate, play and mitigate despair, swim in the rough waters, but without effort let go of us if we (...) cannot fathom them. For adventurers who risk the encounter with Whitehead's text, its treasures feel like balm on the overheated, burning sensation of wounds of division. A way out. A new way. A revolution--not of violent overturning, but of gentle reorientation in which compassionate thinking breathes. It is not about systems, but permeated with musical rhythms and harmonics, composing significance with impermanence. It does not arrive at a promised land, but perhaps is a harbinger of things to come, sensing a universe that will surprise our descendants. It does not reveal a mind in which we can live, but one that challenges all rest. (shrink)

La metafisica del processo, di cui Process and Reality è il manifesto e la attuazione, non nasce dal nulla, ma al contrario emerge da una complessa e prolungata meditazione condotta da Whitehead sin dai primi scritti, di carattere logico e matematico, e passa poi per una articolata riflessione sui problemi fondamentali dell’epistemologia delle scienze naturali, condotta alla luce della rivoluzione concettuale generata dalle ricerche di Einstein ma anche di molti altri studiosi.Per situare quindi nel suo giusto contesto teorico le (...) nozioni fondamentali elaborate da Whitehead nel suo periodo cosiddetto “speculativo”, è fondamentale delineare il quadro teorico da cui tali nozioni emergono, per mostrare che esse non rappresentano, come qualcuno ha sostenuto, una deviazione, ma al contrario uno sviluppo coerente delle premesse matematiche, logiche ed epistemologiche su cui il matematico e filosofo inglese non ha mai cessato di interrogarsi. In tal modo si può sia apprezzare il contenuto filosofico di scritti apparentemente diversi, sia il senso genuino di termini che altrimenti restano avvolti in una oscurità spesso denunciata ma più raramente compresa. Le nozioni speculative di entità attuale, oggetto eterno, processo, concrescenza e così via si comprendono solo se viste in questa chiave a un tempo genetica e geneaologica. (shrink)

Gottfried Martin has recently reminded us of a useful distinction between two possible ways of doing metaphysics. We may proceed by framing a “theory of principles” or by proposing a “theory of being”. Aristotle explicitly formulates both possibilities as the task of metaphysics, formulating a theory of principles in his doctrine of the four types of causal explanation in the first book of the Metaphysics, while exploring the theory of being in a number of other passages, such as Book I, (...) chapters 6 and 9; Book X, chapter 2; and Book XIII. These passages do not elaborate principles whereby we can analyze the structure of certain entities, be they causes, substances or forms, but rather concern themselves with the ontological status of these entities—in what sense can they be said to be? In Plato this distinction is more implicit, but we may contrast the theory of forms developed in the Phaedo and the Republic with the subsequent probing investigation of the being of these forms in the Parmenides and the Sophist. Kant “explicitly claims to have discovered and presented a complete and necessary system of the basic concepts and principles. The proof of the completeness and necessity of this system is the aim of the middle part of the Critique of Pure Reason, the Transcendental Analytic.” Yet. (shrink)