Propositions in the Making

Reviews / Votes

This book offers a variety of approaches to the understanding of Whitehead's theory of propositions. For Whitehead, a proposition is less a statement to be judged true or false, than it is a suggestion that proposes alternative ways of thinking, and encourages us to think about new possibilities. The essays in this volume look at the various ways -- some more concrete, and some more abstract -- that Whitehead offers us openings and opportunities for change. -- Steven Shaviro, emeritus professor of English, Wayne State University In essays that dance Whitehead into a fresh adventure in thinking, Propositions in the Making performs what it proposes. It lures each reader to become a Whiteheadian proposition, which is itself a lure to feeling. So we are spun brilliantly round, in a thinking that experiments with its own affect and yours. In troubled times, such contagious creativity in discourse may prove itself not just an intellectual luxury for Whiteheadian nerds but a planetary path to a future worth realizing. -- Catherine Keller, Drew University This imaginative and wide-reaching book draws the reader into the nexus of the event itself, articulating propositions that offer their own lures for feeling, whether by putting forth a proposition or by encouraging exploration of propositions and their affects. The topics taken up provide a creative variety of starting points and lead in exciting directions aimed at inaugurating a novel becoming toward a collective aim. It is precisely the kind of philosophical text needed for our present world. -- Jeremy Fackenthal, Institute for Ecological Civilization