Process Metaphysics: Coherences and Consequences

Research Article| October 01 1992 Some Comments on Randall Morris’ Process Philosophy and Political Ideology Charles Hartshorne Charles Hartshorne Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Process Studies (1992) 21 (3): 149–151. https://doi.org/10.2307/44798691 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Charles Hartshorne; Some Comments on Randall Morris’ Process Philosophy and Political Ideology. Process Studies 1 January 1992; 21 (3): 149–151. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/44798691 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressProcess Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. ©Copyright 1992 Process Studies1992 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

As digital technologies have become more pervasive, this thesis argues, there has been an accompanying expansion of a phenomenon here called ‘peripheral digital activity.’ This activity includes unplanned and unexpected events that arise in conjunction with digital technologies and that are poorly classified using conventional notions of ‘interaction,’ ‘user experience,’ or purposeful ‘use.’ To ground this idea, the thesis looks to artistic strategies that might critically investigate the concept of peripheral digital activity, in this case arguing that Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophy of organism, with its emphasis on whole-part relations, holds special relevance. The thesis proposes an original Whitehead-centred analysis of art as a manner or ‘mode’ of decision procedure. Developing this analysis via Whitehead’s notion of actual entities and through a discussion of digital function, the thesis examines the practice of contemporary artist Tino Sehgal. Reading through theories of social and participatory art, the thesis arrives at Sehgal’s proposition of ‘cleaner conceptualism.’ Outlining a systems-based interpretation of cleaner conceptualism, Sehgal’s constructed situations are contrasted with the idea of art as a decision procedure proposed by Sol LeWitt. Whereas LeWitt organizes his idea of decision procedures as a dualist critique of instrumental rationalism, Sehgal creates a new mode of monist decision procedure. Using this monist strategy, Sehgal mobilises participants, collectors, and curators in a way that is entangled with and presupposes digital function even as his practice foregrounds non-technological body-to-body human engagement. The thesis claims that Sehgal’s practice is one strategy for critically investigating the effects of peripheral digital activity. Proposing directions for future research, the thesis ends with a Coda that provides a preliminary analysis of the paintings Laura Owens as a diagnostic tool for investigating digital functional augmentation.

Research Article| October 01 1973 Persuasive and Coercive Power in Process Metaphysics J. E. Barnhart J. E. Barnhart Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Process Studies (1973) 3 (3): 153–157. https://doi.org/10.2307/44797457 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation J. E. Barnhart; Persuasive and Coercive Power in Process Metaphysics. Process Studies 1 January 1973; 3 (3): 153–157. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/44797457 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveUniversity of Illinois PressProcess Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © Copyright 1973 Process Studies1973 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

This article is aimed at highlighting some possible contributions of Hegel’s philosophy to the contemporary debate around process metaphysics. In the contemporary metaphysical debate, process metaphysics represent an attempt to highlight the limits of the traditional philosophical paradigm, which is based on the notion of substance, and to work within an alternative paradigm, which is based on the notion of process. What exists, then, are not substances, substrates, fixed and stable objects characterized by certain properties, but processes, events, occurrences. The main idea of ​​process metaphysics is that being is dynamic and that this dynamic nature must be the main focus of any comprehensive philosophical explanation of reality. Looking at this revolution, it is necessary to define the very notion of process. In fact, this work of conceptual clarification of the fundamental notion of this new philosophical paradigm is still ongoing. My idea is that Hegelian philosophy can offer some relevant indications to do the job. In this sense, the article will be divided into two parts: on the basis of the analysis of some definitions of the notion of process in the contemporary debate around process metaphysics, I will show 1) the need to determine the minimal ontological structure of the notion of process; 2) the possibility of determining this structure through some conceptual tools provided by Hegel’s logic and in the Lectures on the History of Philosophy.

This dissertation is an exploration of the connections between the process philosophy and the educational thinking of Alfred North Whitehead. It develops the theory that Whitehead's philosophy of process is evident in "embryonic" form in his earlier educational writings, as well as The Aims of Education and Other Essays (1929), and that the complexities of process thinking are as intertwined and interconnected with the principles of process educational thought as the actual entity is intertwined and interconnected with the complex relations involved in its concrescence. The ultimate aim is to provide a clear picture of Whitehead's vision of education and the possibilities it offers the classroom teacher. The study, a theoretical one, is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the framework for the dissertation and a personal reflection on initial encounters with process philosophy. Chapter 2 presents Whitehead's idea of "connectedness" and my natural progression toward a process mode of thought through the course of my career. William F. Pinar's theory of currere frames an autobiographical exploration of my twenty-five years in the classroom and my years of doctoral study. Chapter 3 explicates the philosophy of process, beginning with the actual entity and including all the basic elements. Chapter 4 examines Whitehead's educational writings, with a careful emphasis on the earlier essays and addresses, as well as a detailed look at his rhythm of education. Also explored is the fundamental notion of the student as a living organism and the necessity of application. This chapter concludes with a look at the critical opinions of philosophers and educators who have applied Whitehead's process philosophy to educational theory, e.g., Brumbaugh, Doll, Hendley, Holmes, and Lawrence. Chapter 5, which is the crux of the study, applies a process philosophy of education to the practical world of the classroom, considering the combination of the theoretical and the practical realms of thought. The quest centers around the myriad of possibilities process thinking offers the teacher today. It concludes with a look at the phases of generalization and romance as windows to the very Platonic notion of transformation in the lives of both students and teacher.

What if reality fundamentally consists in events and processes rather than things? All actions are situated within processes, influenced by a broader set of preceding and concomitant flows of digital information and other actions. This paper offers a process philosophy perspective that sees things as merely constellations of processes. Decisions within these processes, moreover, must usually be made within time constraints. Rather than a view of time, such as in process theories, as being tied to notions of entities, variance, or—at best—the flow of things, process philosophy sees time as duration: tied to consciousness, sensemaking, and free will. While principles for conducting positivist, interpretive, and critical research have been widely discussed in the IS literature, criteria and principles for a process philosophy perspective are lacking. In the context of Bergson and Whitehead’s creative evolution process philosophy, this paper proposes a set of five principles for the conduct of process philosophy research in information systems: (1) heterogeneous multiplicity, (2) immanence in a process, (3) experience over abstraction, (4) consciousness in duration, and (5) a relational ontology. We describe these in detail and discuss some potential applications, methodological issues, and related difficulties in the principles’ implementation for IS research. We highlight their value for requirements engineering in large-scale projects.

While some process philosophers have denigrated the emergent theory of mind, what they have denigrated have been ‘materialist’ theories of emergence. My contention is that one of the most important reasons for embracing process philosophy is that it is required to make intelligible the emergence of consciousness. There is evidence that this was a central concern of Whitehead. However, Whitehead acknowledged that his metaphysics was deficient in this regard. In this paper I will argue that to fully understand the emergent theory of mind and its relation to process philosophy it is necessary to recast the whole history of modern philosophy in terms of efforts by philosophers grappling with the relationship between mind and body, or more broadly, consciousness and nature. This will involve granting a central place to Schelling’s philosophy, the ideas that influenced it and how Schelling’s insights were developed by subsequent philosophers. Process philosophy will then be seen as the tradition generated by efforts to transcend the opposition between idealism and materialism, and its promise in this regard, apart from anything else, is what makes it the most promising philosophy for the future.

This paper is concerned with the kind of non-linear causation that lies behind the production and comprehension of speech in discourse, where multiple ‘input’ data typically act in concert towards a determinate output. To this end Whitehead’s philosophy of Process - in particular his theory of ‘prehensions’ — is applied to the analysis of pragmatic implication and inference in a short literary excerpt, which involves the most complex kind of prehension, the ‘intuitive judgment’. This leads to a number of conclusions concerning the way in which patterns of linguistic behaviour can be evoked out of mere potentiality by contextually embedded prehensions that constrain and modulate the expression of intended discourse acts. Some of these constraints are attributable to the nature of focal consciousness itself. An extension of the Whiteheadian notion of ‘subjective aim’ (usually understood to preside over a single ‘actual occasion’) will be necessitated, since in discourse this can clearly both be suspended and divided into subordinate sub-aims while the overall aim, still unfulfilled, is inherited from occasion to occasion.

Previous article No AccessNew Books in Physiological ZoölogyGeneral Biology and Philosophy of Organism. Ralph Stayner Lillie Michael F. GuyerMichael F. Guyer Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 19, Number 4Oct., 1946 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/physzool.19.4.30151930 Views: 1Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in Physiological Zoology (1928-1998), which is continued by Physiological and Biochemical Zoology (1999-present). PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Ecological world view in the A. N. Whitehead' Philosophy of Organism and the teaching-learning methods in moral subject

In "A Sketch of the Past," Virginia Woolf introduces her personal philosophy, her own ontology, based on the idea that all human and nonhuman beings are interconnected in a single work of art. This idea is foregrounded in her novels The Waves, Between the Acts, and the pacifist manifesto Three Guineas, where Woolf fully develops her "ontoethics," which consists in ontological interconnection of human beings and recognition of value of every human and nonhuman being. This article discusses this universal relationality via Alfred North Whitehead's philosophy of organism, which emphasizes the interrelatedness of all constituents of reality and solidarity that springs from this ontological bond.

This article attempts to interpret the philosophy of Russian natural-scientific cosmism in terms of process thought. As the most developed version of this strategy of thinking, Whitehead’s process philosophy is considered. In the course of a comparative analysis of Whitehead’s philosophy with the ideas of the Russian cosmists A. L. Chizhevsky, K. E. Tsiolkovsky and V. I. Vernadsky the ideological, conceptual and terminological proximity of cosmists to process philosophy, and hence process thought strategy is revealed. A number of key concepts of process philosophy that are discussed in the article: novelty, event, organism, emotional experience, prehension, concrescence. The comparative analysis of Whitehead’s philosophy and the ideas of Russian cosmists based on the works of A. L. Chizhevsky, K. E. Tsiolkovsky and V. I. Vernadsky reveals the philosophical, conceptual and terminological similarity of the cosmists and process thought and, therefore, the process strategy of thinking. Referring to the poetic and scientific heritage of A. L. Chizhevsky, the authors find an outstanding example of a holistic worldview and an organicist attitude toward being. The central ideas of K. E. Tsiolkovsky are those of panpsychism, unification and community. Finally, it becomes known that V. I. Vernadsky pays close attention to the philosophical foundations of a naturalist scientist’s work in his studies. It is noted that Whitehead’s philosophy of process seems to him the most appropriate in this respect. Thus, organicism position; eco-oriented worldview; embedding man in the logic of nature; the priority of societies, nexus and relationships over individuals; ontology of holistic (cosmic) vision of reality; panpsychism; aestheticization of the cosmological process — these and other facets of process thought in the works of the cosmists make it possible to classify Russian natural-scientific cosmism as a processual mode of thought.

Michel Foucault has been variously pigeon-holed as a philosopher, structuralist, post-structuralist, anti-modernist, postmodernist, happy positivist, political activist, gay rights activist, krypto-normativist, and pseudo-marxist. Yet his work escapes categorizations including ‘philosophy’ and ‘process philosophy’. It is Foucault’s ‘systematic scepticism toward all anthropological universals’, combined with his illumination of the processes and practices through which the subject and object are formed and transformed historically, which makes his work significant in the context of process philosophy and organization studies. This chapter begins by considering Foucault as a placeholder for a particular style, or styles, of thinking that contributes to an appreciation of process. It then examines his understanding of discourse, history, and practices as it interrogates process, and reflects on the engagement of his thinking within the field of organization studies. In addition, this chapter considers some of the more influential Foucauldian ideas that are relevant to organization studies, including panopticism, resistance, and governmentality, as well as the apparatus of security and the question of freedom in the context of power relations.

By all accounts, Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) is virtually synonymous with process thought, including its more specific expressions as process philosophy and theology. This is most often assumed with little regard for the origins of modern process thought itself. Nicholas Rescher, reflecting on this fact, has called the pluralization of the field the “cardinal task” of all process proponents. This charge, given nearly thirty years ago, remains unfulfilled. Despite the fact that other candidates are available, the preeminence of this singular figure, and subordinately his later interpreter Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000), has led to what may be called “The Whitehead/Hartshorne Factor” in virtually all aspects of process thought. This has functioned as a limiting factor in the promotion of processual ideas, a phenomenon noted during the earliest years of modern process history. This historiographical review will outline the features of these limitations and suggest a broader process approach that works to the benefit of its theological branch in particular. This paper dares to ask the “heretical” question, what would process philosophy and theology look like without Whitehead? Ironically, with the most recent analysis of Whitehead scholarship, the answer is hidden in plain sight.

Abstract. This essay sets forth the decisive notions and postulates of process philosophy in Process Philosophy and Social Thought, edited by John B. Cobb, Jr. and W. Widick Schroeder. After commenting on the circumstances in which process philosophy came to be a major option among philosophical theologians, I provide some amplification of those notions and postulates. Then, selecting material from the eighteen articles in the volume, I offer several critical assessments of the process viewpoint and its relation to science and to the contemporary call for liberation.