Study On The Process Philosophy Of Alfred North Whitehead

The process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead is a rare speculative metaphysics inthe20th century. It has very deep ideological connotations and involves a wide range ofknowledge. It has become a booming genre in foreign countries today. But the study of it isvery less in our country. The study on the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead isrelatively more just in the last ten years. And it mostly concentrated the field of economyecology and education. However the analysis of its ideological content is not comprehensiveenough. This article attempts to give a more comprehensive and specific elaboration on theprocess philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and make a specific analysis on its practicalsignificance generated by it.The text is divided into four parts:The first part: The process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead is proposed anddeveloped. The process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead that been proposed isconsidered being affected by a certain background and far-reaching ideological origins in thispart. Because of the split situation in the20th century between the Anglo-American andcontinental philosophy, Alfred North Whitehead strived to make a holistic understanding ofthe universe and commit to creating a process philosophy in order to reconcile this situation.Furthermore, the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said “All are stream”, he also said“People can not step into the same river twice”, in addition, the Oriental Buddhism advocated“causal loop” and “what goes around comes around”, under the influence of these above,Alfred North Whitehead further elaborated his process thought systematically. And heeventually proposed the process philosophy. After the process thought of Alfred NorthWhitehead is elaborated, Haci Horn, Little John Cobb and David Griffin who are AlfredNorth Whitehead’s disciples developed it. It has become a booming genre of Westernacademia so far.The second part: The basic content of the process philosophy of Alfred North Whiteheadis elaborated. In this part, it discusses the basic content of the process philosophy of AlfredNorth Whitehead from the five aspects of the ontology, epistemology, methodology,cosmology and the theory of value respectively. The process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead stressed that the process is actuality and the actuality is process. And it tried todescribe the world as synthesis process of the actual existence. Each of which is the actualexistence has its own self-created. Epistemologically, it insisted that the understanding ofsubject and object are generated in the process of understanding, the relationship betweensubject and object is also generated in the process gradually. And it proposed the text ofunderstanding is completed in the process instead of the final inspection of the understandingthe results. In the methodology, the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead uses amathematical method, the creativity of ultimate scope as its philosophical methodology. Itstresses the integrated and not the analysis and it bases on the specific rather than abstract.Through the two basic categories of “many” and “one” stress “many generate one” and “theone becomes long”. In the cosmology, the process philosophy of Alfred North Whiteheaddescribes an interdependent universe on the whole. It thought the universe is opened,unlimited. It is full of creativity, diversity, order, specifications, and freedom. And it is a morefundamental universe which is combined by openness, order, infinity and finitude. In thetheory of value, the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead thought aesthetic valueand its natural is combined closely, and the event is the basic unit of the universe, while valueis considered the internal actuality of the event. It constitutes a sort of eternal, independent ofthe intrinsic field. Any event has its own intrinsic value. This is the objective conditions of itsexistence.The third part: The process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead has theoreticaladvantages and theoretical defects. This part elaborates its theoretical advantages from fiveaspects: stressing on the process; stressing on Interdependent interaction; attachingimportance to innovative ideology; a comprehensive philosophy and having affinity with thetraditional Chinese culture. Due to theoretical advantages of all aspects that the processphilosophy of Alfred North Whitehead has, the process philosophy has a significant Influencein the world today. Of course, any theory has its theoretical defects. The process philosophyof Alfred North Whitehead is Just busy to create an orderly, creative cosmic unity, andignored the importance of the conflicts and contradictions in the process that the eventgenerated. It stifles the imagination and impulse in playing a role in the process. Because itforces to join its order while in the process of composing, the event lost its original vitality. These are certain deficiencies of the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Ofcourse it has great theoretical advantages, so we still need to study it seriously to improve itsdefect.The fourth part: The process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead has practicalsignificance. In this part, it analyzes the practical significance of the process philosophy ofAlfred North Whitehead from the four aspects of the ecology, education, economic and socialdevelopment, reconstruction of Chinese philosophy. The process philosophy of Alfred NorthWhitehead advocates building an ecological environment of an unity of man and nature. Italso advocates personal, social, global and environmental responsibilities and developmentmodel of economic and social integration, sustainable development. It inspires us that wecreate an innovative education and development model in education. It emphasizes theeducational process. It surpasses the rigid concept of modern education and makesdevelopment on diversity education and difference education. The process philosophy ofAlfred North Whitehead promotes reconstruction of Chinese philosophy.The study on the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead in this article will have agreat theoretical significance and practical significance on many aspects, such as enrichmentand development of process philosophy, social and ecological environment, socialenvironment, educational reform and development, economic and social development.