Process Philosophy

AN AESTHETIC REPRESENTATION OF ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD'S PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

by Sencer Corlu

The Separability and Individuality of Substance: Potentiality and Actuality in Aristotle

by J.W. Trull

They Only Saw the Surface of Things

by J.W. Trull

Review of "N. Rescher, Essais sur les fondements de l'ontologie du procès, trans. by M. Weber, Ontos, 2006"

by Frederic Tremblay

Published in Philosophiques, vol. 34, n. 2, 2007, pp. 419-421

To Have or Not to Be: Possession of Action as Organizational Mode of Being

by Nicolas Bencherki

Bencherki, N., & Cooren, F. (2011). To have or not to be: the possessive constitution of organization. Human Relations, 64(12), 1579-1607.

How does an organization act? Can it be considered an actor on its own or does it need organizational members who act... more How does an organization act? Can it be considered an actor on its own or does it need organizational members who act on its behalf? We would like to suggest our own take on the issue by suggesting a genuinely communicative approach to the issue of organizational action. Using the narratology of A. J. Greimas to make apparent in talk some of process philosophy’s tenets, we show how organization act by being attributed actions. The detailed study of meetings from a community organization serves as our empirical grounding. We suggest that through the imbrication of mandates and programs of action in a logic of appropriation/attribution, the organization can effectively act while always relying on others to do so. Far from “just talk”, we contend that in doing so, participants reconfigure their organization and make it do things. There is no need to resort to an essentialist ontology of organization to state that it acts “itself”. We therefore reconcile the two most common views of organizational action – that of an organization acting by itself and that of agents acting on its behalf.

Art, digitality and consciousness

by Guy Birkin

Birkin, G., (2005). Art, Digitality and Consciousness. In: Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Creativity and Cognition, Goldsmiths College, London, 12–15 April 2005. pp. 279–282.

This paper is intended as an accompaniment to digital artworks*, and forms a concise outline of the practical and... more This paper is intended as an accompaniment to digital artworks*, and forms a concise outline of the practical and theoretical elements of my research into digital processes.
It begins by describing the processes used to create the artworks, then the scientific paradigm shift from which these processes are derived. This new kind of science begins with or leads to the question, ‘What if space and time are digital?’ My research prompted a reassessment of the meaning of ‘digital’, which in turn re-defined the potential ‘digital media’ and, therefore, what may be called ‘digital art’.
Lastly, it is shown that this new science relates to the older field of Process Philosophy. That these fields share an emphasis on the importance of the concepts of time, change and process can be seen as supporting evidence for Jean Gebser’s model of evolutionary consciousness. This model enables cohesion of the scientific ideas and is the context in which the artworks were conceived.

* exhibited at the 5th Conference on Creativity and Cognition, Goldsmiths College, London, 12–15 April 2005

What happened to holism?

by Brady Wagoner

Wagoner, B. (2011). 'What happened to holism?' Psychological Studies, 56(3), 318-324.

“Der Drang nach Ganzheit.” Striving for the whole. This phrase was the key slogan of the second Leipzig school of... more “Der Drang nach Ganzheit.” Striving for the whole. This phrase was the key slogan of the second Leipzig school of psychology, Ganzheitspsychologie. The phrase aptly captures the existential dimensions of human experience: we all exist in time and as such must grabble with the uncertainty of the past, the incompleteness of the present, and the indeterminacy of the future. Every moment of our lives involves struggles to overcome these ambiguities and become secure wholes. Though we may make great gains stabilizing the world and ourselves over our life, this process will never be complete. We will forever live in a world of becoming. This situation affords on the one hand, anxiety and ambivalence, and on the other, creativity and novelty.

Unveiling the ‘International’: Process, Identity and Alterity

by Xavier Guillaume

Published in 'Millennium: Journal of International Studies', 2007

Process-based approaches avoid ontological consideration of social entities as substances, avoid epistemological... more Process-based approaches avoid ontological consideration of social entities as substances, avoid epistemological reification of social entities or phenomena into static units and, on the contrary, integrate the idea of change into their whole conceptualisation of the social world. Finally, process-based approaches also aim to endogenise social phenomena theoretically in order to have a better understanding of their complexity. In sum, the key ideas of process-based approaches basically lie in the prioritisation of process over substance, relation over separateness, and activity over passivity. Starting from this position, the aim of this article is to offer a more concrete approach to a specific dimension of the `international' by focusing on the identity— alterity nexus. It will be shown how the spatial understanding of the `international' still characteristic of most contemporary IR theories is at odds with issues about the identity—alterity nexus that is partly constitutive of the `international', which rather than being thought of as a spatial dimension should be thought of as a process in itself. The French `veil affair' will be presented as an example to highlight the limits of our current spatial perspective about the `international'.

From Process to Politics

by Xavier Guillaume

Published in 'International Political Sociology', 2009

Many international relations (IR) theories examining the identity/alterity nexus share a dichotomized vision of the... more Many international relations (IR) theories examining the identity/alterity nexus share a dichotomized vision of the social and political reality sustaining their approach to “identity” by dividing the latter into either its “corporate” or its “social” dimension. This dichotomized conception of the social and political falls into what Norbert Elias termed “process-reduction,” a fallacy leading to an isolation and essentialization of certain aspects of processes and bracketing the inherent eventness of the “international.” This paper will theoretically identify the shortcomings of this dichotomized vision and then provide an empirical narration of what a non-dichotomized conception can look like and consider how it provides us with a more acute rendering of the social and political dimensions of collective political identity formation and politics of representation. To do so, a dialogical understanding of the variety of constellations of collective political identities that have informed questions regarding multiculturalism ranging from the Tokugawa (1603–1867) to the Taishō (1912–1926) eras in Japan will be developed.

Bakhtin: From Substance to Process

by Xavier Guillaume

in International Relations Theory and Philosophy. Interpretive Dialogues, 2010

A Model of God

by Thomas Royce

Conceptual draft of project maturing...

Using elements of my own philosophy, I examine the relationship between Whitehead's dipolar concept of God, relating... more Using elements of my own philosophy, I examine the relationship between Whitehead's dipolar concept of God, relating all to Reginald Cahill's work in Process Physics. I identify Whitehead's primordial nature of God with the dynamical 3-space of Cahill's quantum foam. This allows for a reconciliation of many ideas discarded by both science and theology into a comprehensive worldview.

The Living and its Environments

by Didier Debaise

Published in "Process Studies", 37.2, California, 2008

Repairing Ruptures: Multivocality of Analyses

by Brady Wagoner

Wagoner, B., Gillespie, A., Valsiner, J., Zittoun, T., Salgado, J. & Simão, L. (2011). Repairing Ruptures: Multivocality of Analyses. In: M. Märtsin, B. Wagoner, E. Aveling, I. Kadianaki, & L. Whittaker (Eds.). Dialogicality in Focus: Challenges to Theory, Method and Application (pp 105-127). Hauppauge, N.Y.: Nova Science Publishers.

Dialogical thinkers have long known that consciousness is a kind of irreversible flow that passes through similar (but... more Dialogical thinkers have long known that consciousness is a kind of irreversible flow that passes through similar (but not identical) positions; yet, the methodological tools to analyse these complexities have not been wholly adequate. Analytic strategies need to be developed that demonstrate both how to identify positions and analyze their spatial/temporal relationships. To this end, the present chapter aims to concretely explore researchers' reasoning in conducting a dialogical analysis of intra-psychological discourse. Six researchers were given the task of independently carrying out a dialogical analysis of Angel's (1985) stream-of-consciousness short story The Guerrillero (see Appendix A).

Process Philosophy: Via Idearum or Via Negativa?

by Anderson Weekes

In: Michel Weber (ed.), After Whitehead: Rescher on Process Metaphysics (Frankfurt/Lancaster: Ontos Verlag, ISBN 3-937202-49-8), 2004, pp. 223–266.
English

Nicholas Rescher’s way of understanding process philosophy reflects the ambitions of his own philosophical project and... more Nicholas Rescher’s way of understanding process philosophy reflects the ambitions of his own philosophical project and commits him to a conceptually ideal interpretation of process. Process becomes a transcendental idea of reflection that can always be predicated of our knowledge of the world and of the world qua known, but not necessarily of reality an sich. Rescher’s own taxonomy of process thinking implies that it has other variants. While Rescher’s approach to process philosophy makes it intelligible and appealing to mainstream analytic philosophy, it leaves behind the more daring ideas of Bergson, James, and Whitehead, all of whom envisioned the primordial reality of process in a radical ontology of becoming. This variant of process thought can be construed as coherent and self-consistent, but not without relinquishing the correspondence theory of truth and embracing challenging ideas that bring us in close proximity to existentialism, apophatic theology, and Buddhism.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947)

by Derek Michaud

Edited in The Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Western Theology

Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000)

by Derek Michaud

Edited in The Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Western Theology

The Philosophical Foundations of a Reconstructive Postmodern Version Of Community

by Geoffrey Frasz

Published in the International Journal of the Humanities,  Vol. 3, Issue 9, An earlier versiion of this paper was presented at the 3rd International Conference of Humanities, Cambridge, England, August 2005

Event Dynamics: The Eventalization of Society In the Sociology of Georg Simmel

by Olli Pyyhtinen

Published in Distinktion, 2007, no. 15: 111-132.

Commencing from Georg Simmel’s notion of the general tendency of modern thought as the ‘dissolution of substance into... more Commencing from Georg Simmel’s notion of the general tendency of modern thought as the ‘dissolution of substance into functions’, the article analyzes Simmel’s own thought as an apotheosis of that dissolution. The focus is on Simmel’s conception of society as an ‘event’ (Geschehen), which rejects the reifying conception of society as a substantive entity, but does not reduce the social to action nor actors either – event has primacy both over subject and substance. The article asserts that the Simmelian event has two main aspects: that of reciprocal causation and inner antagonism. Along with clarifying the event dynamics in accordance with these aspects, the key sociological implications of Simmel’s philosophy of life (Lebensphilosophie) are also unfolded: it is claimed that the event expresses the deep continuity between the vital and the social in Simmel’s thought. In the end, the uses of the notion of the event are elaborated by connecting Simmel’s reflections to more recent insightful conceptualization of the social.
Keywords
Causation; event; form; Georg Simmel; life; social action; society; sociology.

From Metaphysics as Dogma to Metaphysics as Life: Georg Simmel as a Process Philosopher

by Olli Pyyhtinen

Published in Process Studies, 2010, vol 38.2 Fall-Winter, 253–278.

This essay addresses the process philosophy of the German fin-de-siècle philosopher and sociologist Georg Simmel.... more This essay addresses the process philosophy of the German fin-de-siècle philosopher and sociologist Georg Simmel. While Simmel’s contribution to socio- logical process analysis has been widely acknowledged, his more subtle philosoph- ical contributions have largely gone unnoticed. In the essay, Simmel’s philosophi- cal process thinking is discussed by focusing on three themes. The first is what he calls his “relativistic” mode of thinking, a way of considering entities in terms of processes and dynamic relations. The second one is his Lebensphilosophie, life- philosophy, philosophy that tries to view life as such in its continuous, fluctuat- ing becoming. In the third section, Simmel’s view of philosophy itself as process is discussed. For Simmel, philosophy is not cut up in crystallized notions, systems, or sublime results, but amounts to process. Therefore what philosophy is can be specified only within philosophical practices; philosophy cannot be defined before engaging in the actual practice of doing philosophy.

Le processus Idéel dans la philosophie de Gilles Deleuze: une expérience métaphysique

by Alice Pittet