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Alfred North Whitehead
Also known as: A.N. Whitehead, Whitehead
Facts (53)
Sources
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2015 Edition) plato.stanford.edu May 23, 2001 13 facts
referenceDavid Griffin espouses an atomistic panpsychism in his 1998 book 'Unsnarling the World Knot', which serves as an explicit interpretation, extension, and defense of Alfred North Whitehead's version of the doctrine.
claimAlfred North Whitehead represents the culmination of nineteenth-century panpsychist thinking, with his work appearing simultaneously with the development of emergentism by thinkers such as C. Lloyd Morgan and C. D. Broad.
perspectiveAlfred North Whitehead supported panpsychism while embracing the necessity of emergence, describing it as "the destiny of the many to enter into a novel unity, an additional reality," which implies an emergent or creative synthesis as a principle of reality.
claimPanpsychism was relegated to the sidelines of philosophical discourse for approximately fifty years following the 1929 publication of Alfred North Whitehead's 'Process and Reality' and the 1925 publication of C.D. Broad's 'Mind and Its Place in Nature' because it was viewed as an unwarranted philosophical extension of scientific belief.
claimAlfred North Whitehead's panpsychism posits that the elementary events constituting the world, which he termed 'occasions,' possess mentality in an attenuated sense, expressed through the mentalistic notions of creativity, spontaneity, and perception.
claimSome modern panpsychists, beginning with Alfred North Whitehead, have attempted to interpret the indeterminacy found in quantum mechanics as an expression of spontaneous freedom rather than blind chance or mechanical causation.
claimAlfred North Whitehead proposed a metaphysical system that replaces the traditional triad of matter, space, and time with events and the ongoing processes of their creation and extinction as the fundamental nature of the world.
quoteAlfred North Whitehead described modern cosmologies as admitting a mysterious, intrinsically unknowable reality in the background and noted that Leibniz explained what it must be like to be an atom.
claimAlfred North Whitehead is considered the most significant developer and defender of panpsychist philosophy in the twentieth century.
claimAlfred North Whitehead's panpsychism is dependent upon his entire metaphysical system, which entails a more radical revision of the scientifically based picture of the world than panpsychism alone requires.
quoteAlfred North Whitehead distinguishes between unities and mere aggregates, stating: “... in bodies that are obviously living, a coordination has been achieved that raises into prominence some functions inherent in the ultimate occasions. For lifeless matter these functionings thwart each other, and average out so as to produce a negligible total effect. In the case of living bodies the coordination intervenes, and the average effect of these intimate functionings has to be taken into account.”
referenceDavid Ray Griffin provides a clear introduction to and defense of Alfred North Whitehead's panpsychism in his 1998 work, while Charles Hartshorne offers an alternative interpretation and pantheistic reworking of Whitehead's ideas in his 1972 writings.
claimAlfred North Whitehead's panpsychism stems from an anti-emergentist intuition and faces the same general objections as other versions of panpsychism.
Panpsychism - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 8 facts
perspectiveAlfred North Whitehead's process philosophy argues that the fundamental elements of the universe are 'occasions of experience' that can combine to create complex entities like human beings.
perspectiveAlfred North Whitehead concluded that the intrinsic properties of matter are "intrinsically unknowable".
perspectiveThe Wikipedia article on Panpsychism argues that it is a widespread misconception that Alfred North Whitehead was panpsychism's most significant 20th-century proponent.
perspectiveMichel Weber argues for 'pancreativism' based on the work of Alfred North Whitehead.
claimPanexperientialism is associated with the philosophies of Charles Hartshorne and Alfred North Whitehead.
referenceRandall Auxier and Gary Herstein discuss Alfred North Whitehead's radical empiricism in their book 'The Quantum of Explanation: Whitehead's Radical Empiricism'.
claimPanpsychism is one of the oldest philosophical theories and has been historically ascribed to philosophers including Thales, Plato, Spinoza, Leibniz, Schopenhauer, William James, Alfred North Whitehead, and Bertrand Russell.
claimAlfred North Whitehead's concept of "actual occasion" refers to the "immediate experienced occasion" of any possible perceiver, rather than atomic mental events.
Panpsychism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu Jul 18, 2017 7 facts
referenceCharles Hartshorne authored 'Whitehead’s Philosophy: Selected Essays 1935–1970', published by the University of Nebraska Press in 1972.
claimAlfred North Whitehead's panpsychism is based on the idea that the elementary events that make up the world, which he called "occasions," partake of mentality in an attenuated sense, expressed through notions of creativity, spontaneity, and perception.
referenceAlfred North Whitehead distinguishes between unities and mere aggregates by noting that in living bodies, a coordination raises certain functions of ultimate occasions into prominence, whereas in lifeless matter, these functionings thwart each other and average out to a negligible effect.
claimThe 'Intrinsic Nature Argument' for panpsychism has historical roots in the works of Leibniz, Schopenhauer, Bertrand Russell (1927), and Alfred North Whitehead (1933 [1967]), and is supported by contemporary philosophers including T.L.S. Sprigge (1999), Galen Strawson (2003), and Philip Goff (2017).
claimAlfred North Whitehead's distinction between living and lifeless matter depends upon a form of mental functioning.
claimAlfred North Whitehead proposed a radical reform of the conception of the fundamental nature of the world, replacing the traditional triad of matter, space, and time with events and the ongoing processes of their creation and extinction.
claimDavid Griffin espoused an atomistic panpsychism in his 1998 book, Unsnarling the World Knot, which interpreted, extended, and defended Alfred North Whitehead's version of the doctrine.
Quantum Approaches to Consciousness plato.stanford.edu Nov 30, 2004 6 facts
claimAlfred North Whitehead's ontology posits that 'actual occasions' possess both mental and physical poles, which are considered psychological and physical aspects of reality.
claimIn a 2006 interview, Henry Stapp specified that in his approach, which draws on Alfred North Whitehead's process thinking, 'actual occasions' are the fundamental elements of reality rather than matter or mind.
claimIn Alfred North Whitehead's ontology, the potential antecedents of actual occasions are psychophysically neutral, representing a mode of existence where mind and matter are unseparated.
referenceAlfred North Whitehead, in his work on process philosophy, described 'actual occasions' as having mental and physical poles that transcend their bipolar appearances.
claimHistorical proponents of dual aspect or psychophysically neutral views include Baruch Spinoza, Gustav Fechner (1861), Wilhelm Wundt (1911), and Alfred North Whitehead (1978).
referenceA.N. Whitehead authored the 1978 book 'Process and Reality', published in New York by Free Press.
Panpsychism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu May 23, 2001 5 facts
referenceCharles Hartshorne (1897-2000) offers an interpretation and pantheistic reworking of Alfred North Whitehead's panpsychism, such as in his 1972 work.
referenceThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Panpsychism lists related entries including George Berkeley, consciousness, René Descartes, dualism, emergent properties, epiphenomenalism, Charles Hartshorne, William James, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, mereology, monism, neutral monism, pantheism, physicalism, qualia, quantum theory and consciousness, Josiah Royce, Baruch Spinoza, Alfred North Whitehead, and Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt.
quoteCharles Hartshorne explained that for Alfred North Whitehead, 'it is the destiny of the many to enter into a novel unity, an additional reality,' which implies an admission of emergent or creative synthesis as the principle of process and reality.
claimAlfred North Whitehead's panpsychism is linked to an anti-emergentist intuition and requires a radical revision of the current scientifically based picture of the world.
perspectiveAlfred North Whitehead embraced the necessity of emergence within his panpsychist framework, viewing reality as a process of creative synthesis.
The Hard Problem of Consciousness | Springer Nature Link link.springer.com 4 facts
referenceAlfred North Whitehead described the seventeenth-century dualism as cutting across the systematic totality of nature, confining the objective world of science to mere spatial material with simple location in space and time, subject to definite rules of locomotion.
referenceAlfred North Whitehead published 'Science and the modern world' in 1925.
claimAlfred North Whitehead identified two evils in the treatment of the environment: the ignorance of the true relation of each organism to its environment, and the habit of ignoring the intrinsic worth of the environment.
quoteAlfred North Whitehead stated: “Also the assumption of the bare valuelessness of mere matter led to a lack of reverence in the treatment of natural or artistic beauty”.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 Edition) plato.stanford.edu May 23, 2001 2 facts
claimAlfred North Whitehead's theory regarding the coordination of functions in living bodies depends on a form of mental functioning.
claimAlfred North Whitehead's philosophy includes a distinction between unities and mere aggregates, which is similar to the distinction proposed by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
Moving Forward on the Problem of Consciousness - David Chalmers consc.net 1 fact
claimThe psychophysical theory proposed by Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose suggests a kinship with Alfred North Whitehead's metaphysics and fits within the Russellian framework.
Hard Problem of Consciousness | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu 1 fact
referenceAlfred North Whitehead authored the book 'Process and Reality: an Essay in Cosmology', which was published by Macmillan in 1929.
Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness cambridge.org Dec 20, 2023 1 fact
claimIn the twentieth century, dual-aspect monism was maintained by philosophers including Grover Maxwell (1979), Timothy Sprigge (1983), Michael Lockwood (1989), Alfred North Whitehead (1929), and Charles Hartshorne (1937).
Philosophical perspectives on consciousness | Humans - Vocal Media vocal.media 1 fact
claimAlfred North Whitehead and Philip Goff argue that panpsychism provides a more coherent explanation for the emergence of consciousness than physicalism.
Hard problem of consciousness - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 1 fact
claimWilliam James, Alfred North Whitehead, Arthur Eddington, and Bertrand Russell defended forms of panpsychism and neutral monism in the early twentieth century.
Quantum Approaches to Consciousness plato.stanford.edu Nov 30, 2004 1 fact
claimThe implicate order in the Bohm-Hiley framework is referred to as 'holomovement' because it is dynamic rather than static, similar to the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.
Quantum Approaches to Consciousness plato.stanford.edu Nov 30, 2004 1 fact
claimAlfred North Whitehead, a pioneer of process philosophy, proposed that mental and physical poles of 'actual occasions' transcend their bipolar appearances.
(PDF) Quantum Mechanics and Consciousness - Academia.edu academia.edu 1 fact
referenceAlfred North Whitehead published 'Adventures of Ideas' in 1933.