The Event Universe: The Revisionary Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead PDF
Preview The Event Universe: The Revisionary Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead
THE EVENT UNIVERSE Crosscurrents Exploring the development of European thought through engagements with the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences Series Editor Christopher Watkin, Monash University Editorial Advisory Board Andrew Benjamin Martin Crowley Simon Critchley Frederiek Depoortere Oliver Feltham Patrick ffrench Christopher Fynsk Kevin Hart Emma Wilson Titles available in the series: Difficult Atheism: Post-Theological Thinking in Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux by Christopher Watkin Politics of the Gift: Exchanges in Poststructuralism by Gerald Moore Unfinished Worlds: Hermeneutics, Aesthetics and Gadamer by Nicholas Davey The Figure of This World: Agamben and the Question of Political Ontology by Mathew Abbott The Becoming of the Body: Contemporary Women’s Writing in French by Amaleena Damlé Philosophy, Animality and the Life Sciences by Wahida Khandker The Event Universe: The Revisionary Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead by Leemon B. McHenry Forthcoming: Sublime Art: Towards an Aesthetics of the Future by Stephen Zepke Visual Art and Projects of the Self by Katrina Mitcheson Visit the Crosscurrents website at www.euppublishing.com/series/cross THE EVENT UNIVERSE The Revisionary Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead Leemon B. McHenry © Leemon B. McHenry, 2015 Edinburgh University Press Ltd The Tun – Holyrood Road 12(2f) Jackson’s Entry Edinburgh EH8 8PJ www.euppublishing.com A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 4744 0478 5 The right of Leemon B. McHenry to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498). Contents Preface 1. Introduction A World of Events Descriptive Versus Revisionary Approaches Science and Philosophy The Quest for a Unified Theory 2. Descriptive Metaphysics Aristotle’s Conception of Substance Strawson and Davidson on Substance Whitehead and Quine: Critique of Ordinary Language Philosophy Haack and the Conceptual Invariance Thesis Heil on Language and Substance 3. The Influence of Modern Physics Historical Perspective Maxwell’s Electromagnetic Field Einstein-Minkowski Space-Time The Early Quantum Theory The State of a Unified Theory 4. The Revisionary Theory of Events Whitehead’s Early Ontology of Events Whitehead’s Later Process Ontology Russell’s Analysis of Matter Quine’s Events and Physical Objects Objections Considered 5. The Theory of Extension Whitehead’s Theory of Cosmic Epochs Contemporary Cosmology and the Multiverse Hypothesis Affinities and Contrasts Explained Critical Evaluation 6. The Problem of Time Instrumentalism and Quantum Ontologies Special and General Relativity Reconsidered Presentism, Eternalism and the Growing Block Universe Problems within Whitehead’s View Time and Unification 7. Philosophical Implications The Mind-Body Problem Perception and Causation Free Will Personal Identity Moral Agency Conclusion Notes References Index
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