Whitehead and the New Liberals on Social Progress

Abstract

Recently there have been a number of attempts, primarily among theologians, to ascertain the contribution which Whitehead's process philosophy might make to social and political theory.1 Unfortunately, when one examines this growing body of literature, one becomes aware that a serious study of Whitehead's own social and political thought has been largely neglected. This neglect is no doubt due in part to the fact that Whitehead never produced a systematic political theory. What explicit comments, analogies, and allusions he does offer are scattered throughout his writings making it less straightforward than it might otherwise be to determine his own political beliefs. I maintain that, while while undeniably difficult, such a determination is in fact necessary if process philosophers and theologians are to assess accurately Whitehead's potential contribution to social and political theory. Failure to undertake such a study and to allow oneself to be guided by its results when extrapolating socio-political ideas from his metaphysics has had negative consequences for process studies. It has led to a variety of inappropriate conclusions such as the claim that Whitehead's images of 'civilization' are more reflective of a liberal gentleman than they are of a serious application of his philosophy of organism to social theory,2 as well as to the location of Whitehead's contribution to political theory precisely in those areas where the new liberalism made its original contribution almost a century ago.3 Such conclusions are the direct result of the lack of awareness among process thinkers of Whitehead's political