process studies articles @ religion online...
Volume 15 (1986)
- Number 1, Spring 1986
- Continuity, Possibility, and Omniscience: A Contrasting View by James A. Keller
- Logic and the Metaphysics of Hegel and Whitehead by Charles Nussbaum
- The Method of Abstraction: A Musical Analysis by Stephen Schloesser
Is there a sense in which possibilities are understood as constituting a continuum and yet can be eternally known in a way which would permit God to use his knowledge of them to decide his action in response to any possible situation? The author discusses this question in the light of Hartshorne, Richard Creel, John Cobb and Whitehead.
The author raises questions concerning the relation between logic and metaphysics in the philosophies of Hegel and Whitehead. "We may hold that the existence of God cannot be directly established by any logical argument, dialectical or otherwise; but we can insist that some objective principle of order and value is immanent in rational thought in particular, and in the cosmos as a whole."
The author discusses the metaphysical traits found in music based up his analysis of "universal principles" as found in Whitehead’s chapter entitled "Abstraction" in Science and the Modern World.
- Number 2, Summer 1986
- A Thesis Concerning Truth by Robert Neville
- Culture, History, and the Retrieval of the Past by David L. Hall
- Decentering Whitehead by Donald W. Sherburne
- Justus Buchler: Nature, Power, and Prospect by Sidney Gelber
- The Nonspeculative Basis of Metaphysics by Edward Pols
Truth is the properly qualified carryover of the value of a thing into the interpreting experience of that thing. The author suggests three preliminary parts: a theory of reality: a theory of interpretation, of value and of valuation -- each developed on the other.
Perhaps we had best not attempt to distinguish culture and history. Better that we understand them as jointly constituted. Together they form a diachronous web the strands of which lead backward into multifarious pasts and forward toward an unintegratable plurality of presents.
The author holds that there is only the plurality of actual occasions, each with a limited perspective. His process orientation is toward a Whitehead decentered, toward a Whitehead without God, toward a neo-Whiteheadian naturalism -- a process thought in quite a new key.
Buchler’s work consists of a general ontology (a metaphysics of being), a metaphysics of human utterance (a theory of human being qua human) and a theory of poetry.
Indirect knowledge -- whether philosophic or scientific -- is both based upon and enframed by direct knowledge, thus it must surely be the philosopher’s chief function to work towards deepening our direct knowledge.
- Number 3, Fall 1986
- Human Coercion: A Fly in the Process Ointment? by David Basinger
- The Axiomatic Matrix of Whitehead’s Process and Reality by Leemon B. McHenry
- Whiteheadian Philosophy and Prolog Computer Programming by Granville C. Henry and Michael Geersten
When, if ever, can the process theist condone the use of nonpersuasive power? Dr. Basinger argues that however the process theist attempts to respond, significant problems with the process system develop.
Dr. McHenry investigates the structural similarity between Whitehead’s celebrated work with Bertrand Russell's Principia Mathematica.
The authors believe structures allowing descriptions of prehensions as well as providing symbolic understanding of Whitheadian eternal objects and propositions have been found. Surprisingly, these structures are to be found in the form of a modern computer programming language -- Prolog.
- Number 4, Winter 1986
- Process and Revolution: Hegel, Whitehead, and Liberation Theology by Paul Lakeland
- Process Social Philosophy: The Continuing Conversation by George Allan
- Process, Creativity, and Technology: Reflections on The Uncertain Phoenix by Peter Limper
- Social Differentiation and Class Structure: Some Implications of Whitehead’s Metaphysics by Randall C. Morris
- Spirit and Society: A Study of Two Concepts by Joseph A. Bracken, S.J.
Dr. Lakeland compares the respective potentials of the thought of Hegel and Whitehead as philosophical support for the theology of liberation.
The articles in Volume 15, Number 1 of Process Studies comprise a special issue devoted to social philosophy. The authors have significant differences between them, but they share a broad concern from a Whiteheadian perspective. They all grapple with two great conundrums: 1. The problem of the one and the many. 2. The problem of justice.
Dr. Limper discusses the concepts of David L. Hall’s book The Uncertain Phoenix and others of his writings, summarizing Hall’s main ideas relating to technology and technological society. He then offers a critique of a number of those ideas and of some related aspects of Hall’s thought, including his use of certain process concepts.
Dr. Morris reveals some possible implications of Whitehead’s metaphysics for social and political thought, in particular the issue of social differentiation and class structure.
Professor Bracken relies upon the careful work done by Lucas in the concept of Spirit in Hegel’s philosophy and the concept of society in Whitehead’s thought to illuminate each another’s potentialities for development in the direction of still another, more comprehensive process-oriented system of thought.