Long-standing theories about Whitehead's early philosophical efforts can now be challenged or overturned. In this volume, leading Whitehead scholars address the ways in which the 1925-1927 Harvard lectures challenge or confirm previous understanding of Whitehead's published works, trace the development of Whitehead's thought in the crucial period after Science and the Modern World but before Process and Reality, examine Whitehead's singular guest lecture in Richard Clarke Cabot's seminar in social ethics
a topic which Whitehead usually avoided
and elucidate how these lectures be seen as a bridge between his mathematical and philosophical work.
Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Assessing and Defining Whitehead's Harvard Lectures Part I: The role of biology in Whitehead’s philosophy 1. From a Philosophy of Evolution to a Philosophy of Organism Paul A. Bogaard 2. Assessing Whitehead’s ‘biological turn’ Philippe Gagnon 3. Whitehead and Biology – A reply to Philippe Gagnon Dennis Sölch 4. Further Clarifications Concerning ‘Assessing Whitehead’s “biological turn”’ Philippe Gagnon Part II: Mathematics, Logic, and Symbolism 5. Symbolic cognition of infinity: Using Whitehead’s HL2 to bridge Symbolism and Principia Mathematica Landon D. C. Elkind Part III: Whitehead’s Philosophical Context 6. The dipolar character of being in Plato and Whitehead Daniel A. Dombrowski 7. The emergence of organic empiricism in Whitehead’s Harvard lectures: relational stubbornness and the being of practice Christian Frigerio 8. Reason in action: Dewey’s place in Whitehead’s Harvard lectures (1925–27) Maria Regina Brioschi Part IV: Metaphysical Reflections 9. Whitehead’s ethics: Fill in the blanks Milan Stürmer and Daniel Bella 10. Whitehead on solidarity: From the concrete to the system Alessia Giacone 11. Standing firm in the flux: On Whitehead’s eternal objects Matthew David Segall 12. Whitehead’s 1925–27 view of function and time Ronny Desmet Notes on Contributors Index
Joseph Petek is the Director of Research and Publication of the Whitehead Research Project of Gonzaga University and Executive Editor of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead. He has co-edited three books on Whitehead: Rethinking Whitehead’s Symbolism (2017), Whitehead at Harvard, 1924–1925 (2020), and The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, 1925–1927: General Metaphysical Problems of Science (2021). His latest book is Unearthing the Unknown Whitehead (2022), which examines the significance of Whitehead's Harvard lectures and other previously unknown archival materials. Brian G. Henning is Professor of Philosophy and of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Gonzaga University and Executive Director of the Whitehead Research Project. Dr. Henning holds a M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University. He is author or editor of fifteen books and more than thirty-five articles and chapters. His 2005 book, The Ethics of Creativity (University of Pittsburgh Press), won the 2007 Findlay Book Prize from the Metaphysical Society of America for the best work of metaphysics published between 2001 and 2006. He is the Founder and General Editor of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead.
