Process Philosophy: A Survey of Basic Issues

152 Pages·2000·7.44 MB·english

by  Nicholas Rescher

Process Philosophy

Process Philosophy ASURVEY OF BASIC ISSUES
Nicholas Rescher
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PRESS
Copyright© 2000, UniversityofPittsburghPress
AIlrights reserved
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Printedonacid-freepaper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
Preface vii
The Promise ofProcess Philosophy 3
ONE
The Idea ofProcess 22
TWO
The RevoIt against Process 33
THREE
Human Agency as Process 48
FOUR
FIVE Cognitive Processes and Scientific Progress 59
The Cognitive Process and Metaphysical Realism 91
SIX
Process Philosophy and Historicist Relativism 107
SEVEN
Process Philosophyand Monadological Metaphysics 123
EIGHT
Notes 133
Name Index 143

PREFACE
Process philosophy has interested me since 1first encountered it in a
seminargiven byW. T. Stace atPrinceton Universityin 1949-nowover
fiftyyears ago. This interestculminatedin mybookProcess Metaphysics:
An Introduction to Process Philosophy (Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1977).
Over the years 1have produced a series of papers and lectures dealing
withvarious aspects ofthis topic. Myobjectivein Process Philosophyhas
been to gather together these various discussions and blend them into
a coordinated whole that both extends and rounds out the view of
process philosophypresented in myearlierbook.
As a philosopher deeply influenced bypragmatism, 1have always felt
thatone ofthe bestways ofappraising a philosophical thesis on theory
is to ask whether it can clarifyissues and solve problems. 1putforward
the presentdeliberations about process philosophy in this spirit-as an
endeavor to illustrate through examples the sorts of benefits that the
ideas ofprocess philosophycan yield.
1am grateful to Estelle Burris for helping me to prepare this material
for publication.
January2000

Process Philosophy