”Whitehead wanted to give some explanation for how it is that in a world of process we nonetheless are able to recognize and identify definite characters or entities. We are out at sea and glimpse a whale just before it dives under the surface. A moment later, it explodes into the air. “There it is again,” we say. A simple enough observation, but Whitehead finds it metaphysically perplexing. Why are we justified in saying it is the same whale? I am not certain of the exact physiological details here, but scientists tell us that after some number of years every single atom in our body is replaced. Despite this complete material renewal, we are still somehow justified in claiming a sense of stable identity. Our matter changes, but our form endures…Whitehead does not accept substantial notions of identity (“no thinker thinks twice,” he reminds us in Process & Reality), so he is forced to invent a processual account of this continuity, and the ingression of definite possibilities through historical routes of socially ordered actual occasions is how he attempts to pull it off.“

The above passage comes from a fantastically nerdy Whiteheadian flavored blog post from process philosopher, Matt Segall. The blog post is actually a recent written dialogue between Matt and fellow Whitehead enthusiast, Tam Hunt. Topics like time, God’s role in Whitehead’s scheme, Whitehead’s inverted theory of Platonic forms (eternal objects), stability in a world of fluctuating process, are all discussed. It’s definitely worth a look!

This passage in particular jumped out at me because it really does speak to how much of a shift of thinking is required to go full-in on a process-relational worldview… Substantial views of identity and/or reality are so easy to slip into, though, I’ll admit; they’re kinda like a snug sweater! Thinking of identity and/or reality as related events really does take a leap of imagination, and yes new problems do arise (like the problem of accounting for continuity), but in my opinion I’ll take my chances with processual becoming over substantial being any day if it means I get to avoid the major problems that come with the latter, like the all-to-easy temptation to fix being and truth in carbonite like Han Solo. To paraphrase Whitehead, we should think about “occurrences” instead of “things.”

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Painting above by Zanis Waldheims

Tags:eternal objectsGodMatt Segallprocess philosophysubstance metaphysicstam hunttimewhitehead