| The theme of spontaneity appears in numerous human endeavors, from artistic expression to moral wisdom, and from phenomena of emergent complexity in evolutionary history to operations of the brain in intelligent problem solving. This dissertation furnishes a philosophical theory of spontaneity that takes account of insights from the academic disciplines devoted to studying these basic and beautiful features of reality. Especially important for this project are the "Neural Darwinism" of neuroscientist Gerald Edelman, the "general biology" of complexity theorist Stuart Kauffman, the "organicist" philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, and the classical Chinese ideal of "sagehood" as non-deliberative and effortlessly skillful conduct.; The proposed theory of spontaneity integrates these insights coherently into a systematic philosophical interpretation of nature. This involves (1) a metaphysical theory of the spontaneity of all things in respect of their haecceity or "this-ness," drawing both on the Chinese idea of the Dao as the hidden spontaneity of all things in nature, and on Whitehead's idea of creativity; (2) a cosmological theory of the spontaneity of adaptive systems as skillful contextual adjustment, drawing especially on Edelman and Kauffman; and (3) a theory that connects these two within the sphere of human experience, drawing on the Chinese classics' accounts of sagehood and on phenomenological descriptions of expert musical performance.; The tradition of discourse within which this theory of spontaneity takes shape is the distinctive stream of American philosophical thought that emerged from the writings of Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. Philosophers identifying with this movement have consistently sought to take explicit account of Darwinian evolution, contemporary biology, and neuroscience in their philosophical interpretations of nature. But they also explicitly acknowledge the role of large-scale metaphysical hypotheses as tools for integrating the insights of many otherwise disparate disciplines. The tradition's chief representative in this dissertation is Whitehead. |
