Saturday, May 12, 2007

Whitehead's Process and Reality: Notes on the proposed project

I hope that new readers of the Zephyrus Unchained Process and Reality project will take a moment to read through this explanatory introduction. In it, I explain my interest in Whitehead as well as his influence on me; I describe the approach that will be taken in examining Process and Reality; and, at the end of this note, I will include a hyperlinked table of contents, that I wll update as new items are added to the blog.

I first encountered the thought and writings of Alfred North Whitehead in 1993, while taking a course on the "Frontiers of Knowledge" at New York University with the late Professor Tom Colwell. If I'm not mistaken, we were reading William E. Doll, Jr.'s book, A Post-modern Perspective on Curriculum (Teachers College Press, 1993). In that work, Doll included a chapter on "Dewey, Whitehead, and Process Thought." I was immediately interested and began to find other material about Whitehead, and soon managed to obtain a copy of his major work, Process and Reality (1929).

Whitehead became central to my Master's thesis, which dealt with questions on the philosophical foundations of teaching environmental awareness and ethics. He also reappeared in my Doctoral dissertation, although in a less central fashion.

Whitehead's process thought, what he himself called the "philosophy of organism," has always fascinated me, and I've often felt drawn to write more freely on his ideas than time and place have permitted. Not so long ago, it struck me that it might be enjoyable to blog about Whitehead in a broad sort of way. Inspired by some examples of close textual examination being carried out by blog (particularly noteworthy is the ongoing project on Samuel Pepys' Diary), I thought I might actually slog my way through Process and Reality paragraph by paragraph.

That is not practical, I think. First, there are most likely copyright restrictions. If the copyright on Whitehead's book has been renewed (and I think it has), then the earliest it can enter public domain is 95 years after the original date of publication (if I understand the U.S. copyright statutes correctly), which would make it available in 2024.

Second, it may simply be too gargantuan a project to quote and analyze every single paragraph. It is my intention nonetheless to use the structure and flow of Whitehead's original work (with ample, but not excessive, quotation) as the framework or scaffolding from which to explore the various ways that the philosophy of organism has proven to be so stimulating to myself and so many others.

It would otherwise be difficult for me to describe the impact of Whitehead on my own habits of thinking. It is surprising sometimes how often I will find myself giving a situation or a point of view a "Whiteheadian read." I find this particularly striking in the study of Buddhist doctrine, which clearly has much in common with Whitehead, despite the fact that Whitehead is most widely known and studied in connection with certain modern strands of Christian theology.

Another attraction for me is how well Whitehead's philosophy lends itself to ecological and environmental thinking. This, I believe, makes his ideas especially relevant today.

Whitehead also has a lot to say about the methods and roles of philosophical inquiry. There is something both sobering and very positive about his point of view. I hope my efforts in explaining his thought will be of benefit to myself and any reader who happens by.

My approach will be to take Process and Reality sections at a time, starting with the author's Preface. I'll provide an outline of the section and some meaningful quotes, followed by (or interspersed with) my interpretation of Whitehead's meaning. Points of connection will surely arise and can be used to connect to any number of other topics. I'll take these as they come, in an organic sort of way. How fitting!

Of course, this has been done before, in print form, and certainly by more expert thinkers than myself. Believing as I do that I nonetheless have something to add to the conversation, I will proceed fearlessly, and perhaps note the views of other interpreters, to the extent that their work is ready at hand or familiar to me.

I hope also that readers (if there be any) will take the time to leave comments of a constructive kind. That will add much to the discussion.

Project Table of Contents:

The Preface

Interlude, on John Locke
Chapter I, Section I
Chapter I, Section II
 

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