Whitehead's Metaphysics of Power
Reconstructing Modern Philosophy
Published on 12. August 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-4744-3740-0 (ISBN)
Description
At the beginning of his magnum opus, Process and Reality (1929), Whitehead lists a series of beliefs which he thinks are widely held by contemporary philosophers. They are all condemned as dangerously mistaken.
What are these myths? Why are they rejected? In the works of which modern thinker did they arise? What precisely went wrong? At what stage in the development of Western thought did this happen?
By tackling these questions, Pierfrancesco Basile makes it possible to grasp the main concepts of Whitehead's process metaphysics - especially the crucial notion that being and power are one and the same - and appreciate the complex way this is rooted in the modern philosophical tradition.
What are these myths? Why are they rejected? In the works of which modern thinker did they arise? What precisely went wrong? At what stage in the development of Western thought did this happen?
By tackling these questions, Pierfrancesco Basile makes it possible to grasp the main concepts of Whitehead's process metaphysics - especially the crucial notion that being and power are one and the same - and appreciate the complex way this is rooted in the modern philosophical tradition.
Reviews / Votes
Whitehead's speculative cosmology and willingness to reform language in its service set him against the philosophical trends of his time. Pierfrancesco Basile's discerning study eschews adulation, revealing a carefully revolutionary Whitehead grappling with matter, mind and metaphysics, a tempered rationalist indebted to Leibniz, whose philosophy "escapes any easy judgment." -- Peter Simons, Trinity College DublinMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
227 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-3740-0 (9781474437400)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Pierfrancesco Basile is a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
Content
PrefaceAcknowledgementsAbbreviations
Part I. In Search of a New Metaphysics1. Introduction: Metaphysics, Science, Common Sense2. Speculative Metaphysics: Defining the Ideal
Part II. From Permanence to Process3. Deconstructing Tradition: Substance Revisited4. The Flowing Self: From Monads to Actual Occasions5. Overcoming the Cartesian Legacy: The Process Concept of Substance
Part III. From Process to Permanence6. Changing Shapes of Reality: Understanding Nature under a Social Analogy7. Theological Afterthoughts: A Neo-Platonic God for a Darwinian Universe?
8. Conclusion: The Ethics of Creativity - A Deweyan Critique
Appendix: The Making of a Metaphysician - a Biographical Note
BibliographyIndex
Part I. In Search of a New Metaphysics1. Introduction: Metaphysics, Science, Common Sense2. Speculative Metaphysics: Defining the Ideal
Part II. From Permanence to Process3. Deconstructing Tradition: Substance Revisited4. The Flowing Self: From Monads to Actual Occasions5. Overcoming the Cartesian Legacy: The Process Concept of Substance
Part III. From Process to Permanence6. Changing Shapes of Reality: Understanding Nature under a Social Analogy7. Theological Afterthoughts: A Neo-Platonic God for a Darwinian Universe?
8. Conclusion: The Ethics of Creativity - A Deweyan Critique
Appendix: The Making of a Metaphysician - a Biographical Note
BibliographyIndex