Alfred North Whitehead, Philosopher Of Time

Download or read book Alfred North Whitehead, Philosopher Of Time written by Remy Lestienne and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2022-03-04 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), a mathematician and logician by training, was the author of highly original works at the crossroads of science and philosophy which explore the nature of the world around us and its temporal flow.Convinced that everyday terms distort reality, Whitehead invented or borrowed terms more appropriate to his project. The word 'Process', which gives its title to his most famous work Process and Reality (1929), is central to his thinking. Process introduces his vision of nature as a succession of crystallizations, each of which proves the finite granularity of time: the instant does not exist. It also implies a confrontation with the theory of relativity and quantum physics. Whitehead's perspective allows for the occurrence of creative novelties, but necessitates that the world cooperates with a deity, the role of which is examined in this book's last chapter.In Alfred North Whitehead, Philosopher of Time, the author mixes biographical elements with intellectual advances, from logicism to philosophies of nature. A compelling introduction to Whitehead's demanding work, this book deciphers a metaphysical landscape often considered too abstract to be approachable, but points out the philosopher's imperfections with respect to the scientific advances of our time.