North Whitehead Research Articles

Movement as Environmental Communication: A Heuristic of Embodied Rhetorical Placemaking

ABSTRACT This essay develops the theorization of movement as a mode of environmental communication, offering a heuristic of embodied rhetorical placemaking through the concepts of passage, event, and interval. Adapted from Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy, these concepts respectively identify transition, punctuation, and anticipation as distinct forms of movement that collectively capacitate how people come to know the places they tread. Exploring this heuristic in an ethnographic case study of wilderness trip reporting, this essay examines how a Maine-based outdoors reporter physically traverses nature trails for digital recording purposes. Guided by Whiteheadian thought, this analysis reveals a dynamic confluence of transitions, punctuations, and anticipations, enacted in more-than-human relationships, constitutes placemaking. By emphasizing the diverse materiality and formational quality of movement, this heuristic has implications beyond outdoor recreation for theorizing communication, analyzing placemaking, and practicing fieldwork.

A.N. Whitehead and Process Thought

Abstract This contribution offers a sense of the scope and transdisciplinary relevance of the philosophy of British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead by providing an overview of the three main phases of his career. The contribution goes on to distinguish process thought from the substance thought which dominated modern philosophy, and to outline some of the ways in which Whitehead has influenced thought from across the full spectrum of academic disciplines.

Is learning with ChatGPT really learning?

The recent proliferation of Large Language Models (LLMs) raises questions as to the role of such tools both within an educational learning environment and their epistemic capacity. If, as Alfred North Whitehead remarked, western philosophy indeed ‘consists of a series of footnotes to Plato’, it would be of doubtless importance to evaluate the position of LLMs in his epistemological framework. We analyse Plato and existing scholarship regarding his epistemology, combining this with a brief outline of the architectural features of GPT-3 and similar LLMs, before finally addressing whether they meet Plato’s criteria, and where they stand in relation to education in general. We conclude that, in conjunction with the well-known factual unreliability of LLMs, they are likewise unsuited for the satisfaction of a Platonic epistemological standard. On account of this, we find LLMs to be sub-optimal within an educational learning environment, and this is why we suggest that their use be accordingly circumscribed.

British Emergentism, Alfred North Whitehead, and “The Dry Salvages”

British Emergentism, Alfred North Whitehead, and “The Dry Salvages”

Rationalism without Representationalism: Deleuze, Whitehead, and the Decolonization of Philosophy, with Lessons from Anthropology’s Ontological Turn

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.

Critical Thinking as an Integrative Process: Debating Wolves in Yellowstone

Abstract The topic of critical thinking has engaged philosophers, psychologists and educators for well over one hundred years. Amid polarized political attacks on the teaching of controversial issues, however, education in critical thinking appears to be nearing a new low, not only in the United States, but also in other countries being torn by partisan politics. This article reviews the ebb and flow of critical thinking efforts, suggests explanations for their discouraging results, and proposes a way forward that treats critical thinking as an integrative process advanced by Mary Parker Follet, and more recently espoused by Bruno Latour and Donna Haraway. In the exploratory spirit of John Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead, I am introducing this essay, not with analysis or theory, but with a narrative of educational events in all their richness of context. These events describe how middle school students addressed the question of whether wolves should be removed from the endangered species list in the Northern Rocky Mountains of the United States. In the course of this discussion, I wish to demonstrate that thinking critically requires moving beyond winning, losing, or compromising to resolution of conflict, and furthermore, understanding that even stable resolutions must be revisited as events change.

Whitehead and Victorian Philosophy of Science: A Historical Investigation of the Concept of Hypothesis

Abstract In the Harvard lectures of 1924–1925, Alfred North Whitehead proposed that our various intellectual activities amounted to an attempt to understand the world and our experiences through hypothesizing. He explained the importance of hypothesis in scientific research and extended the idea of hypothesis to the philosophical method called “speculative philosophy.” For Whitehead, philosophy was the attempt to formulate general hypotheses that can transcend disciplines. This paper is intended to explore the possible influence of Victorian philosophers on Whitehead. Victorian philosophers such as John Herschel, William Whewell, and John Stuart Mill discussed the role of hypothesis in scientific discovery. Was Whitehead aware of this tradition? Was he influenced by it? This article indicates that Whitehead at least indirectly inherited the Victorian idea of hypothesis, notably in the thought of Whewell, as mediated by Charles Darwin.

A Review of Alfred North Whitehead’s “Introduction to Mathematics”

Andrew Mellon Professor Thomas Hales reviews Alfred North Whitehead’s “Introduction to Mathematics”.

Reassembling Visionary Physics : Donald Ault, Bruno Latour, and William Blake’s Mathematical Scenographies

Donald Ault’s work on William Blake constructs what Bruno Latour calls a scenography of a fact: an aesthetics that shifts “attention from the stage to the whole machinery of a theater.” Instead of the purified, sterile aesthetics typified by images of scientists engaged in total absorption on their object of analysis, Blake presents mathematical scenographies as visionary experiences continuously unfolding the aesthetics of fragile facts as matters of concern. Starting with his 1968 book Visionary Physics and continuing through his early unpublished work using complex variables to map the ontological transformations depicted in The Book of Urizen , this article suggests that Ault’s scholarship can be understood as a series of visionary experiments on the aesthetics and ontology of scientific facts. Ault envisions that every act of preservation in Blake’s work is also an act of transformation and becoming. As such, he anticipates later developments in Latourian lab sociology, actor-network theory (ANT), and media archaeology. Along with Latour’s pamphlet What is the Style of Matters of Concern? and its meditation on Alfred North Whitehead’s understanding of the bifurcation of nature, Ault’s mathematical scenographies provide an alternative to the neo-realist defenses of science that would reduce all experiments to acts of objectivity-making.

Whitehead, Tansley, Sen, Bobbio y el enfoque One Health

Objective: draw parameters to structure concepts of the One Health approach through the thoughts of Alfred North Whitehead, Arthur George Tansley, Amartya Sen, and Norberto Bobbio. Methodology: this was original research, with a deductive approach, hermeneutic bias based on the selected thoughts and the One Health. Results: One Health is structured on the holistic and integrated assertion that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected. From Whitehead's perspective, the One Health approach can be considered a dynamic and relational process, where humans, animals, and the environment constantly interact, interconnecting through relationships and processes, forming a whole. From Tansley's perspective, the idea of One Health can align with the ecosystem concept, where health cannot be analyzed in isolation in individuals, but necessarily through the complex interactions between humans, animals, and the environment. From Sen's development prism (rights and freedoms), the One Health approach can be seen to achieve it, through the interrelation of mechanisms, systems, and institutions focused on promoting health and well-being. In Bobbio's view, fundamental rights, democracy, and peace are ethical and primary ways to ensure rights, especially a right of nature (humans, animals, and the environment) in the joint pursuit of guarantees for peaceful coexistence. Conclusion: the One Health approach is not just a practical strategy, but also a renewed vision of the old perception that recognized the interconnection of all forms of life. Submission: 10/01/24| Review: 02/02/24| Approval: 13/02/24

Whitehead, Tansley, Sen, Bobbio y el enfoque One Health

Objective: draw parameters to structure concepts of the One Health approach through the thoughts of Alfred North Whitehead, Arthur George Tansley, Amartya Sen, and Norberto Bobbio. Methodology: this was original research, with a deductive approach, hermeneutic bias based on the selected thoughts and the One Health. Results: One Health is structured on the holistic and integrated assertion that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected. From Whitehead's perspective, the One Health approach can be considered a dynamic and relational process, where humans, animals, and the environment constantly interact, interconnecting through relationships and processes, forming a whole. From Tansley's perspective, the idea of One Health can align with the ecosystem concept, where health cannot be analyzed in isolation in individuals, but necessarily through the complex interactions between humans, animals, and the environment. From Sen's development prism (rights and freedoms), the One Health approach can be seen to achieve it, through the interrelation of mechanisms, systems, and institutions focused on promoting health and well-being. In Bobbio's view, fundamental rights, democracy, and peace are ethical and primary ways to ensure rights, especially a right of nature (humans, animals, and the environment) in the joint pursuit of guarantees for peaceful coexistence. Conclusion: the One Health approach is not just a practical strategy, but also a renewed vision of the old perception that recognized the interconnection of all forms of life. Submission: 10/01/24| Review: 02/02/24| Approval: 13/02/24

Backdirting: Theorizing Backdirt through Time, Place, and Process

ABSTRACT Backdirts, as the byproducts of excavation, are necessary but often overlooked parts of archaeological practice. However, current definitions of backdirt essentialize dynamic matter into a static byproduct. Drawing from Alfred North Whitehead’s process metaphysic, we contend that no two backdirts are the same, as backdirts are engaged in active placemaking, bundling of temporalities, and always in process. In theorizing backdirt, we argue that backdirts have agency, are inherently archaeologically produced, and can only be instantiated by archaeologists. As excavating emphasizes what is removed during archaeological work, we introduce backdirting, which elicits the value of what remains. In two case studies from the Peruvian Central Andes, we follow backdirts from previously excavated archaeological sites and others instantiated from modern and historical changes to sites. We contend a more thoughtful and robust archaeological practice exists through tracing the histories of various backdirts in action and in process—following various instantiations of backdirtings.

Inverting Naturalistic Cosmotheology: The Meeting of Steven J. Dick and Alfred N. Whitehead

ABSTRACT My recent book, Metaphysics of Exo-Life: Toward a Constructive Whiteheadian Cosmotheology is a systematic philosophical response to the six core principles of historian Steven J. Dick’s “naturalistic cosmotheology” from within the process metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead. As a stimulus for further dialogue concerning the nature and possibilities of cosmotheological affirmation, this article offers a brief overview of my inversive metaphysical approach to each of Dick’s principles. The result is six alternative principles of a constructive Whiteheadian cosmotheology.

Internet Economics: Writing on the Virtual Wall

Most economic literature on the internet views the internet through the lens of private markets. However, the internet, concretely, as a collection of software protocols, is intrinsically a public good, as economists define them. The article reviews a selection of conventional approaches to the internet; the focus of which, on markets, is an example of Alfred North Whitehead’s fallacy of misplaced concreteness. On closer analysis, these markets turn out to be traditional business activities enabled by internet applications, which are themselves not market “goods.” An alternative analogy is that of a virtual public square, the walls of which are used as a communal bulletin board. This image is actually a close representation of the way that the early internet was developed. A number of policy conclusions are drawn from this contrasting approach. The public good character of the internet needs to be protected against private interests, including the current group of internet oligarchs. In line with Thomas Piketty’s work on the extreme levels of income and wealth inequality that have evolved in the global economy, some small measure of correction can be assisted by making the private appropriators of the public good pay for the services that the internet provides to them.

Peirce’s Semiotics and the Background of Whitehead’s Symbolism

The aim of this paper is to present Peirce’s semiotics as an important factor in the genesis of Alfred North Whitehead’s doctrine of symbolism. I argue that Peirce had a direct impact on Whitehead’s earliest reflections on symbolism generally and mathematical symbolism particularly. From his first encounter with Charles Sanders Peirce’s semiotic doctrine, contrasted to that of George F. Stout, Whitehead derived a general doctrine of signs which he never abandoned and which formed the basis of his mature doctrine of symbolism. While in the first years of his Harvard professorship, Whitehead suffered a second, indirect, influence from Peirce, through the American philosophers he interacted with. His mature philosophy of perception is both the development and application of the doctrine derived from Peirce and Stout thirty years before, and a reply to the realist doctrines which stressed the symbolic nature of perceptual knowledge, most importantly Santayana’s. Whitehead’s own brand of realism rests on the assumption of a pansemiotic principle, obscurely and mediately derived from Peirce.

Life, Subjectivity and Creativity: Alfred North Whitehead’s Metaphysical Understanding of Evolutionism

The theory of evolution has had a well-known complex and tumultuous public journey, from its beginning as a shocking and bold hypothesis about animal life on Earth, until its present status almost as common ground and, as some may argue, an almost (scientific) common sense framework for interpreting the metamorphoses of life as a general phenomenon. Although the biological and environmental mechanisms of evolution have been thoroughly described and structurally analyzed during the past century and a half, the metaphysical possibility, grounding and implications of Charles Darwin’s ideas were rarely accounted for in a philosophically satisfying manner. In my paper, I will argue that Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy has at its core exactly such an attempt of deducing, coherently expressing and conceptually understanding the inner metaphysical significance of speaking about ‘life’ in evolutionary terms. This attempt is not the only source of Whitehead’s groundbreaking metaphysics (as cosmology), but is among the most important because is directly related to his famous formulation of the Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness, to his description of an ‘actual occasion’ inspired by the ‘vibratory organism’, to his non-Cartesian insights on ‘subjectivity’ as embedded by ‘feelings’ and a ‘subjective aim’ and, finally, is related to his rendering of Creativity as the Category of the Ultimate, the driving force of existence. Especially regarding creativity, the theory of evolution has been of invaluable support, yet, according to Whitehead himself, the scientific mind is leaning towards neglecting this beautiful and optimistic side of evolution, concentrating more on its destructive and brutal side: ‘The other side of the evolutionary machinery, the neglected side, is expressed by the word creativeness’ (Science and the Modern World).

The Organicism of Whitehead and the Haldane Brothers

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) called his philosophy the ‘philosophy of organism.’ How come this mathematical physicist became a proponent of organicism instead of mechanicism? The main reason is that, early on, Whitehead clearly saw that with the advent of Maxwell’s theory of electric and magnetic fields, Einstein’s theories of relativity, and Bohr’s theory of the atom, even physics was no longer the mechanical discipline most philosophers held it for. But there was more. Whitehead knew many biologists of the first generation of organicists, and he was influenced by their organicist view. In this context, some Whitehead scholars have already pointed at physiologist of respiration John Scott Haldane (1860-1936) as a possible organicist influence on Whitehead, without however exploring this influence in depth. The aim of this paper is to remedy this shortcoming. It explores both the direct and the indirect influence of John Scott Haldane on Whitehead. The indirect influence involves a dear friend of Whitehead – John Scott’s brother, Richard Burdon Haldane (1856-1928). Hence the title of this paper: ‘The organicism of Whitehead and the Haldane brothers.’

Dynamic Divinity in Flux: Tracing Nikos Kazantzakis's Convergence of Greek Theology and Evolutionary Philosophy

This study embarks on an analytical journey through the theological perspectives of Nikos Kazantzakis, underpinned by the concept of God's mutability and its roots in ancient and Byzantine Greek theology. Focusing on Kazantzakis's pivotal works such as "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Report to Greco," the research employs a literary and historical approach to unravel the synthesis of Christian Orthodoxy, neo-Platonic philosophy, and modern evolutionary thought. The influence of Alfred North Whitehead's process theology and Henri Bergson's evolutionary vitalism on Kazantzakis's conception of a dynamic, evolving God is explored, challenging traditional doctrines of divine immutability. The study also delves into Platonic thought's impact on Kazantzakis, examining the dialectic of being and becoming, and the reinterpretation of classical concepts like stasis and kinesis in a Christian theological context. Additionally, it scrutinizes the compatibility of Kazantzakis’s views with Orthodox Christian theology, particularly in the light of contributions from figures such as Origen and the Cappadocian Fathers. The findings reveal a complex interplay between Greek philosophical heritage and Christian theology in Kazantzakis's work, offering a unique perspective on the nature of God and the compatibility of faith with evolving scientific understanding. This research contributes to the ongoing dialogue between religion and philosophy, highlighting the relevance of ancient wisdom in contemporary theological discourse and underscoring the transformative potential of theological thought in the modern era.

Alfred North Whitehead’s Relational Special

The greatest relevance of Alfred North Whitehead’s work, in my opinion, has to be related to the interpretation and understanding of the theory of relativity. Whitehead’s same philosophy as ‘meta-physics,’ or ‘pan-physics’ has to be considered a transition from a logico-mathematical philosophy to a physical philosophy, to a cosmological philosophy rooted in his interpretation of relativity. He understood motion as a structural series of temporal events, avoiding permanent material bodies and refuting any interpretation of four-dimensional space-time as a kind of eternal permanence.

The Essence of Religious Conversion in the Perspective of Alfred North Whitehead's Philosophy of Processes

This study aims to understand the essence of religious conversion from the perspective of Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy. This type of research is library research. Data sources come from books and journal articles. The collected data is then analyzed by the method of philosophical hermeneutics with elements of personal description and reflection. The study found the following: (1) Religious conversion in the holistic model is a religious change that takes place over time and not a single event. Conversions are influenced by various interrelated variables. (2) In the meaning system model, religious conversion is understood as a change in the meaning system resulting from strong pressure from input factors and weak system elements to resist pressure. (3) Conversion career aproach sees religious conversion as a radical change in individual religion influenced by social, institutional, individual and contingency factors. Religious conversion is one form of an individual's religious participation during this phase of life. Based on the three explanations of religious conversion according to the three paradigms above, this study concludes that the essence of religious conversion from the perspective of process philosophy is the formation of human self-religiosity. The formation of self-religiosity through religious conversion involves two things, namely, datum and subjective aim. Datum is the whole variable selected through the process of prehence, while the subjective aim is the self-image desired by the individual who is forming himself. Religious conversion is a result of human nature as a being that continues to "be." the implication of this finding is the importance of formulating conversion ethics so that the phenomenon of religious conversion does not lead to social disharmony.