Tags: C

Summary: Process and Reality was published the year that Wittgenstein returned to Cambridge to begin the movement known as linguistic analysis. Whitehead's masterpiece is everything that analysts despise: metaphysical, jargon-filled, and systematic. Whitehead's philosophy of language is terse: "philosophy redesigns language in the same wat that, in a physical science, pre-existing appliances are redesigned."
The book is arranged in five "Parts". The first part gives an overview of philosophy, its aims and methods, together with a set of premises on which the substance of his philosophy will be built. He calls this set "The Categoreal Scheme" and intends the remainder of his book to be an exposition of this scheme. His work is, then, "systematic" in a way that the 20th century has largely rejected, and hearkens back to the 19th century. In fact, he does so explicitly, naming his book after Bradley's "Appearance and Reality", and stating that, despite their metaphysical differences, he and Bradly come to much the same conclusions.
The second part discusses the categoreal scheme in terms of the history of philosophy, with emphasis on the Empiricist tradition that begins with Locke, but covering the range of modern an ancient philosophy. In this section he elaborates his "philosophy of organism" which sees each actual entity as a psycho-physical unity of its environment. Deeply influenced by early 20th century physics, Whitehead presents us with a universe that is dynamic. Grounded in Plato (Western Philosophy consists of "a series of footnotes to Plato"), he also presents us with a changeless ground for this dynamism. The result is a fascinating, modern interpretation of an ancient mode of thought.
The third and forth parts develop the philosophy of organism in its own terms, rather than in relationship to the history of philosophy or to science. These sections are of special interest to the technical philosopher, and continue to be the subject-matter of articles and books by professional philosophers.
The fifth and final part is a rhapsodic interpretation of the philosophy he has presented. This "Final Interpretation" has inspired a theological movement called "Process Theology", and provides provocative oracles for the amateur philosopher.
This is not an easy book to read once you get into part two, and it is recommended that the reader have some familiarity with philosophy. However, the determined undergraduate or the dedicated amateur will find that the complexity of Whitehead's jargon is not merely to impress the unintiated, but expresses a view of reality that aims to be "consistent, coherent, applicable, and adequate". The view from inside makes it worth the effort necessary to enter into Whitehead's universe. Once entered, it is a world you will not forget.