Unearthing the Unknown Whitehead

Joseph Petek

doi:10.5771/9781666920123

Summary

Unearthing the Unknown Whitehead argues that it is Alfred North Whitehead’s recently published Harvard lectures, and not his books, that contain the truest record of the development of his philosophy, including the false starts and dead ends that the published works obscure. This development could previously only be inferred as taking place in the gaps between books. It thus calls for a complete reconsideration of Whitehead’s philosophical corpus. Joseph Petek critically evaluates the accuracy and reliability of the student accounts of Whitehead’s recently published Harvard lectures and then examines these notes, along with a number of previously unknown essays, in order to trace previously unknown aspects of Whitehead’s philosophy and the development of his thought. Additionally, neglected early letters between Whitehead and Bertrand Russell appear to reveal a precise point at which he began transitioning from his long career in mathematics to a new career in philosophy. Two previously undiscovered essays—“Religious Psychology of the Western Peoples” and “Freedom and Order”—display Whitehead’s concern for a creeping hyper-nationalism that is intensely relevant in today’s political climate, along with terminological experiments that stretch our conceptions of Whitehead’s philosophy in new directions.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-6669-2011-6
ISBN-Online: 978-1-6669-2012-3
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 170
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
3. Abbreviations No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 4
1. Why Use Lecture Notes at All? No access
2. The Crucial Importance of Multiple Accounts No access
3. Misunderstandings, Mishearings, Abbreviations, and Confusions No access
4. HL1 and the Special Case of Whitehead’s First Lecture No access
5. The “Composite” Approach of HL No access
6. Conclusions on the Accuracy, Completeness, and Uniqueness of HL1 and HL No access
7. Notes No access
1. Process and Reality No access
2. Symbolism No access
3. Science and the Modern World and Religion in the Making No access
4. Concluding Thoughts No access
5. Notes No access
1. Interactions between Whitehead and Broad No access
2. Whitehead’s Influence on Broad No access
3. Broad in Whitehead’s Classroom No access
4. Broad’s Influence on Whitehead No access
5. Notes No access
1. Earliest Discussions of Ethics No access
2. Context for the Seminar and the Peculiar Nature of the Account No access
3. Whitehead’s Lecture on Social Ethics No access
4. Notes No access
1. Context No access
2. Whitehead and WWII No access
3. Revelation, Criticism, and Hatred No access
4. A Fortunate Balance No access
5. A Rigid Orthodoxy No access
6. Conclusion: A Second “Appeal” No access
7. Notes No access
1. Notes No access
1. The Cambridge Apostles No access
2. Letters to Russell No access
3. The Aristotelian Society No access
4. Conclusions No access
5. Notes No access
1. The Nature of the Harvard Lectures No access
2. Waves on a Beach No access
3. The Ocean of Metaphysic No access
4. Transitions No access
5. The Future No access
6. Notes No access
References No access Pages 155 - 162
Index No access Pages 163 - 168
About the Author No access Pages 169 - 170