1910年代末至1920年代初,懷特黑德逐渐把他的注意力从数学轉移至科学哲学和形而上学。和柏格森一樣,他關注直覺體驗與生命本身,但他採取不同的進路來解決這個問題,進而構建了一个全面的形而上学的系统。懷特黑德认为现实是由事件構成,而不是物质;这些事件不能脫離彼此關係而定义,因此拒绝独立存在的物质理论。[28]今天懷特黑德的哲学著作——特别《歷程與實在(英语:Process and Reality)》——被视为历程哲学的經典。
懷特黑德的历程哲学主張:「紧迫地將世界視為一個具有相互关联历程的網路,而我們是不可或缺的部分,因此我们的所有的选择和行动都影响我们周围的世界。」[28]因此,近年來懷特黑德思想最有前途的应用之一是在小约翰·柯布(英语:John B. Cobb)開創的生态文明和环境伦理領域。[44]
懷特黑德的歷程哲學可以說是起因於牛頓物理學的崩解;這是他所親自見證的,使他大為震撼。他的形上學見解出現於他的《自然之概念》(The Concept of Nature, 1920年)。而在他的《科學與現代世界》(Science and the Modern World, 1925年)的論文中他的形上學就已架構完成了;這本書也是對思想史,對科學和數學在西方文明興盛過程中的角色之重要研究。懷特黑德的形上學受到柏格森變的哲學之影響,但他也是一個柏拉圖主義者,認為「諸事件(events)之特徵源於超時間單體(entities)對其之契入(ingression)」。[45]
《歷程與實在》(大陆:《过程与实在》)一書因其護衛有神論而著名,不過懷特黑德的上帝和亞伯拉罕的啟示性上帝是根本不同的。懷特黑德的機體哲學(philosophy of organism)帶起了歷程神學(英语:Process theology),在這方面有貢獻的除了哈特雄及科布外,還有格里芬。有些基督徒和猶太人認為歷程神學對認識上帝和宇宙是很有效果的進路。就如整個宇宙是一直在流轉改變,做為宇宙起源的上帝也被視為是在成長與改變的。
1933年出版的《觀念之歷險》(The Adventure of Ideas)對懷特黑德形上學的主要見解作了摘要,是他最後也最可讀的一本著作。此書中也對美、真理、藝術、冒險與和平作了定義。他認為「沒有全部的真理;所有真理都是一半的真理。想把他們當作全部的真理就是在扮演魔鬼。」
《教育与科学理性的功能》(The Organization of Thought Educational and Scientific). 伦敦,1917.
《自然的概念》(The Concept of Nature). 剑桥,1920.
《科学与近代世界》(Science and the Modern World) 纽约,1925.
《宗教的形成》(Religion in the Making). 纽约,1926.
《过程与实在》(Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology). 纽约,1929.
《教育的目的》(The Aims of Education and Other Essays). 纽约,1929.
《观念的冒险》(Adventures of Ideas). 纽约、剑桥,1933.
《思维的方式》(Modes of Thought). 纽约,1938.
《科学与哲学论文集》(Essays in Science and Philosophy). 伦敦,1947.
参考文献
^ 1.01.11.2Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: The Free Press, 1978), 39.
^ 2.02.12.2Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: The Free Press, 1978), xii.
^Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: The Free Press, 1978), xiii.
^ 4.04.1Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (New York: The Free Press, 1978), xi.
^ 5.05.15.25.3Michel Weber and Will Desmond, eds., Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought, Volume 1 (Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2008), 17.
^ 6.06.16.26.36.4John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 174.
^ 7.07.1John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 173.
^Joseph A. Bracken, "Whitehead and the Critique of Logocentrism," in Process and Difference: Between Cosmological and Poststructuralist Postmodernisms, ed. Catherine Keller and Anne Daniell (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 91-110.
^Franklin I. Gamwell, "Speaking of God after Aquinas," Journal of Religion 81 (2001): 208-209.
^John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 183.
^John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 167.
^Nancy R. Howell, A Feminist Cosmology: Ecology, Solidarity, and Metaphysics (Amherst: Humanity Books, 2000), vii.
^William E. Kaufman, "Mordecai M. Kaplan and Process Theology: Metaphysical and Pragmatic Perspectives," Process Studies 20 (1991). Available online at 存档副本. [2011-04-01]. (原始内容存档于2011-11-01)..
^Catherine Keller, "Introduction: The Process of Difference, the Difference of Process," in Process and Difference: Between Cosmological and Poststructuralist Postmodernisms, ed. Catherine Keller and Anne Daniell (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 1-30.
^ 22.022.122.2John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 164-165.
^John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 175.
^Bruno Latour, preface to Thinking with Whitehead: A Free and Wild Creation of Concepts, by Isabelle Stengers, trans. Michael Chase (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2011), x.
^ 25.025.1John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 178.
^John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 165.
^ 28.028.128.2C. Robert Mesle, Process-Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead (West Conshohocken: Templeton Foundation Press, 2009), 9.
^ 29.029.129.2John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 180.
^Schubert M. Ogden, The Reality of God and Other Essays (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1992), 36.
^Thomas Jay Oord, "Reflection on Whitehead's Philosophical Theology," International Studies in Philosophy 35 (2003): 188-189.
^Thomas J. Fararo, "On the Foundations of the Theory of Action in Whitehead and Parsons," in Explorations in General Theory in Social Science, ed. Jan J. Loubser et al. (New York: The Free Press, 1976), chapter 5.
^Luis G. Pedraja, "Whitehead, Deconstruction, and Postmodernism," in Process and Difference: Between Cosmological and Poststructuralist Postmodernisms, ed. Catherine Keller and Anne Daniell (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 73-90.
^Michel Weber and Will Desmond, eds., Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought, Volume 1 (Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2008), 25.
^Michel Weber and Will Desmond, eds., Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought, Volume 1 (Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2008), 31.
^"Alfred North Whitehead Biography," European Graduate School, accessed December 12, 2013, 存档副本. [2013-12-12]. (原始内容存档于2013-09-03)..
^Wolfgang Smith, Cosmos and Transcendence: Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientistic Belief (Peru, IL: Sherwood Sugden and Company, 1984), 3.
^William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take To Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996), 82.
^Michel Weber and Will Desmond, eds., Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought, Volume 1 (Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2008), 13.
^John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), 177.