Talk:Alfred North Whitehead

Perhaps the most significant thing Whitehead did was to formulate a new cosmology fit for the modern world. Having realized that quantum mechanics had knocked the bottom out of the nineteenth century sciences and their philosophy of "matter is the basis of all things", Whitehead proposed a more comprehensive philosophy of process, or organismic philosophy. This he wrote about in his magnum opus Process and Reality which is sub-titled An Essay in Cosmology. However, Whiteheadians these days are mostly theologians and uninterested in cosmology, so his four-phase universal pattern of process - which would introduce a structured holism to "life, the universe and everything", and a cosmology fit for disciplines from astro-physics to zoology - is very largely ignored today.

Whitehead?

(moved from Talk:User:Icairns]]

You changed Whitehead's category from "mathematicians" to "British mathematicians." This also brought to my attention that he's classified on Wikipedia as a "British philosopher." We should consider removing the word "British" from both. Or, we should consider using the word "English."

In other encyclopedias and dictionaries, he's referred to by sometimes using "British" and sometimes "English." Many times both words are absent and he's simply referred to as "a philosopher." In order to understand why, you must know the development of his thought and career, and know about British philosophy, analytical philosophy, continental philosophy, and American philosophy. (Maybe you already know this?) This is because, as you probably know, British philosophers usually engage in analytical philosophy. Analytical philosophy is opposed to the type of philosophy that Whitehead engaged in (he did Process philosophy, and in a sense Continental philosophy, and American philosophy prior to the American's being influenced by the analysis of Britain). So calling Whitehead a specifically "British philosopher" is somewhat of a misnomer, even if he was born in Kent.

In terms of his philosophy career, it started near his retirement age, in the United States, where Harvard offered him a position teaching philosophy when he was about 60 years old. Before this, he didn't engage much in "philosophy proper." Whitehead is certainly referred to as "British" in the sense of his mathematical/logical work with Russell in the early part of the 20th century in England, but referring to him in this way today is a bit off-key. He wrote his philosophical works later, when he was in the States, and about 65 to 75 years old, and he was a very long way conceptually from "British philosophy." The foremost Whiteheadian experts in the world, David Ray Griffin, John Cobb, etc., at the Center for Process Studies in Claremont, CA, usually refer to him as simply a philosopher, or sometimes (but rarely) as an English philosopher. See "Process Philosophy" [1] (http://www.ctr4process.org/process/CPSWhatIs.htm). Whitehead drew very heavily from William James and others, and his philosophy has an American flavor.

But, yes, it's also true that because of his mathematical/logical background, he is (in a sense) identified with analytical philosophy; with Wittgenstein, Quine, etc. Books were written on this relationship by George Shields and others. But the bulk of the writing by far is about Whitehead and Continental philosophy, Hegel, Eastern philosophy, theology, etc. (even things written from a Deleuzean perspective, etc.). The point is that his thought was so wide that it's all over the map (very unlike British philosophy).

I did my graduate work at KU Leuven (besides Claremont, KUL is really the only place to study Whitehead). I took a seminar with Lewis Ford, and he never referred to Whitehead as British or English, neither did Jan Van der Veken or Andre Cloots. At any rate, I'm guilty of name dropping here, true, but I'm pointing out it's probably more accurate to refer to him as just a philosopher, or maybe "English." What do you think? Aliman 08:11, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I simply changed the categ Mathematicians -> British mathematicians. I did this because of Whitehead's involvement with Russell in the Principia. You may well have an argument that he was an American philosopher or at least an 'unstated' philosopher. Clearly, we could do with more biographical information on his emigration, naturalisation, etc. You will need to look back to 8 Mar 2002 when the Whitehead article was edited to add 'British'. However, I don't think there was much doubt that (together with Russell), he was one of the most influential British mathematicians of his age. Ian Cairns 13:39, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC) (a mathematician, not a philosopher)

Agreed.

As a side note, it's common for folks to say, "Whitehead's involvement with Russell in the Principia." But Russell was the student (albeit a brilliant student). Russell did alot of work (as students do) but Whitehead was actually the force behind it. Aliman 16:38, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

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Since Whitehead lived the last 20+ years of his life in the United States, he is properly identified as British American. I am therefore reverting the anon. erasure of his American identity. --Blainster 22:59, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)