Alfred_North_Whitehead

qas: question: What did Whitehead first study?
answers: text: mathematics

question: What was Whitehead's second area of study?
answers: text: philosophy

question: What was Whitehead's final area of study?
answers: text: metaphysics

question: What type of system did he develop?
answers: text: metaphysical

question: What did Whitehead argue reality consists of?
answers: text: processes

question: During which decade did Whitehead's focus start shifting away from mathematics?
answers: text: 1910s

question: After moving away from mathematics, what subjects did Whitehead explore?
answers: text: philosophy of science, and finally to metaphysics

question: As opposed to physical objects, what did Whitehead believe reality is composed of?
answers: text: processes

question: What was the predominant theory of reality that Whitehead opposed?
answers: text: reality is fundamentally constructed by bits of matter that exist independently of one another

question: What book of Whitehead's is now considered a primary source of process philosophy?
answers: text: Process and Reality

question: During which decade did Whitehead's focus start shifting away from science?

question:  As opposed to physical objects, what did Whitehead believe nonreality is composed of?

question: What song of Whitehead's is now considered a primary source of process philosophy?

question:  After moving away from mathematics, what subjects did Whitehead reject?

question: What was the predominant theory of reality that Whitehead agreed with?
context: Beginning in the late 1910s and early 1920s, Whitehead gradually turned his attention from mathematics to philosophy of science, and finally to metaphysics. He developed a comprehensive metaphysical system which radically departed from most of western philosophy. Whitehead argued that reality consists of processes rather than material objects, and that processes are best defined by their relations with other processes, thus rejecting the theory that reality is fundamentally constructed by bits of matter that exist independently of one another. Today Whitehead's philosophical works – particularly Process and Reality – are regarded as the foundational texts of process philosophy.

qas: question: Where was Alfred North Whitehead born? 
answers: text: Ramsgate, Kent, England

question: What year was Whitehead born?
answers: text: 1861

question: What was Whitehead's father's profession?
answers: text: minister and schoolmaster

question: What was Whitehead's mother's name?
answers: text: Maria Sarah Whitehead,

question: What was Whitehead's wife's name?
answers: text: Evelyn

question: Where was Alfred North Whitehead born?
answers: text: Ramsgate, Kent, England

question: In what year was Whitehead born?
answers: text: 1861

question: Who founded Chatham House Academy?
answers: text: Thomas Whitehead, Alfred North's grandfather

question: What was Whitehead's father's profession?
answers: text: minister and schoolmaster of Chatham House Academy

question: Who was Whitehead's mother?
answers: text: Maria Sarah Whitehead, formerly Maria Sarah Buckmaster

question: Where was Alfred West Whitehead born?

question: What happened in 1864?

question:  Who destroyed Chatham House Academy?

question:  What was Whitehead's father's hobbies?

question:  Who was Whitehead's aunt?
context: Alfred North Whitehead was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England, in 1861. His father, Alfred Whitehead, was a minister and schoolmaster of Chatham House Academy, a successful school for boys established by Thomas Whitehead, Alfred North's grandfather. Whitehead himself recalled both of them as being very successful schoolmasters, but that his grandfather was the more extraordinary man. Whitehead's mother was Maria Sarah Whitehead, formerly Maria Sarah Buckmaster. Whitehead was apparently not particularly close with his mother, as he never mentioned her in any of his writings, and there is evidence that Whitehead's wife, Evelyn, had a low opinion of her.

qas: question: When did Whitehead accept administrative positions?
answers: text: 1918

question: Where did Whitehead accept administrative positions?
answers: text: University of London

question: What was he elected at the University of London?
answers: text: Dean of the Faculty of Science

question: When did Whitehead go to America?
answers: text: 1924

question: In which educational system was Whitehead employed in the late 1910s?
answers: text: University of London system

question: What was Whitehead's title at the University of London in late 1918?
answers: text: Dean of the Faculty of Science

question: What was Whitehead's last position before he traveled to America?
answers: text: chairman of the Senate's Academic (leadership) Council

question: In which year did Whitehead relocate to America?
answers: text: 1924

question: What degree program did Whitehead contribute to establishing at University of London?
answers: text: Bachelor of Science

question: In which year did Whitehead relocate to Africa?

question: What degree program did Whitehead contribute to unestablishing at University of London?

question: What was Whitehead's title at the University of France in late 1918?

question:  What was Whitehead's last position before he traveled to Africa?
context: In 1918 Whitehead's academic responsibilities began to seriously expand as he accepted a number of high administrative positions within the University of London system, of which Imperial College London was a member at the time. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of London in late 1918 (a post he held for four years), a member of the University of London's Senate in 1919, and chairman of the Senate's Academic (leadership) Council in 1920, a post which he held until he departed for America in 1924. Whitehead was able to exert his newfound influence to successfully lobby for a new history of science department, help establish a Bachelor of Science degree (previously only Bachelor of Arts degrees had been offered), and make the school more accessible to less wealthy students.

qas: question: How many volumes is the biography of Whitehead?
answers: text: two

question: Who wrote the biography of Whitehead?
answers: text: Victor Lowe

question: What was Whitehead's wish upon his death for his family?
answers: text: all of his papers be destroyed after his death.

question: What did Whitehead believe in so profusely that it was difficult to write a biography on him?
answers: text: right to privacy

question: Who authored Whitehead's biography that is considered to be the most reliable description of Whitehead's life?
answers: text: Victor Lowe

question: Why was no Nachlass left behind after Whitehead's death?
answers: text: his family carried out his instructions that all of his papers be destroyed after his death

question: What was Whitehead's opinion on privacy?
answers: text: almost fanatical belief in the right to privacy

question: What did the author of Whitehead's biography comment on the first page regarding the difficulty of obtaining information about Whitehead?
answers: text: "No professional biographer in his right mind would touch him."

question: Who authored Whitehead's biography that is considered to be the least reliable description of Whitehead's life?

question:  Why was every Nachlass left behind after Whitehead's death?

question:  What was Whitehead's opinion on public matters?

question: What did the author of Whitehead's biography comment on the first page regarding the ease of obtaining information about Whitehead?

question:  How many pages is the biography of Whitehead?
context: The two volume biography of Whitehead by Victor Lowe is the most definitive presentation of the life of Whitehead. However, many details of Whitehead's life remain obscure because he left no Nachlass; his family carried out his instructions that all of his papers be destroyed after his death. Additionally, Whitehead was known for his "almost fanatical belief in the right to privacy", and for writing very few personal letters of the kind that would help to gain insight on his life. This led to Lowe himself remarking on the first page of Whitehead's biography, "No professional biographer in his right mind would touch him."

qas: question: What did Whitehead publish numerous articles about?
answers: text: mathematics

question: How many books on mathematics did Whitehead write?
answers: text: three

question: Who co-wrote Principia Mathematica with Whitehead?
answers: text: Bertrand Russell

question: Which of Whitehead's books is known as one of the most important works in mathematical logical?
answers: text: Principia Mathematica

question: When did Whitehead write his first book? 
answers: text: 1898

question: What was Whitehead's first published book on mathematics?
answers: text: A Treatise on Universal Algebra

question: With what mathematician and philosopher did Whitehead collaborate to write Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: Bertrand Russell

question: Who was the intended audience of Whitehead's first two mathematics books?
answers: text: professional mathematicians

question: What was Whitehead's final book on mathematics?
answers: text: An Introduction to Mathematics

question: What is the significance of Principia Mathematica currently?
answers: text: regarded as one of the most important works in mathematical logic of the 20th century

question:  What was Whitehead's first unpublished book on mathematics?

question: With what mathematician and philosopher did Whitehead reject to write Principia Mathematica?

question:  What was Whitehead's last unpublished book on mathematics?

question:  What is the insignificance of Principia Mathematica currently?

question: Who was the intended audience of Whitehead's last mathematics books?
context: In addition to numerous articles on mathematics, Whitehead wrote three major books on the subject: A Treatise on Universal Algebra (1898), Principia Mathematica (co-written with Bertrand Russell and published in three volumes between 1910 and 1913), and An Introduction to Mathematics (1911). The former two books were aimed exclusively at professional mathematicians, while the latter book was intended for a larger audience, covering the history of mathematics and its philosophical foundations. Principia Mathematica in particular is regarded as one of the most important works in mathematical logic of the 20th century.

qas: question: Lie algebras and hypobolic quanternions drew attention to the need for what?
answers: text: expand algebraic structures

question: What did reviewer GB Mathews say algebraic structures possessed? 
answers: text: unity of design

question: Reviewer Alexander Macfarlane believed that the main idea of the work is a comparative study of what?
answers: text: several structures

question: What did Lie algebras and hyperbolic quaternions demonstrate a need for?
answers: text: the need to expand algebraic structures beyond the associatively multiplicative class

question: How did Alexander Macfarlane summarize the relationship between different methods in "A Treatise on Algebra" in his review?
answers: text: comparative study of their several structures

question: What was G.B. Matthew's opinion of "A Treatise on Algebra"?
answers: text: "It possesses a unity of design which is really remarkable, considering the variety of its themes."

question: How did Alexander Macfarlane summarize the relationship between similar methods in "A Treatise on Algebra" in his review?

question:  What wasnt' G.B. Matthew's opinion of "A Treatise on Algebra"?

question: What did Lie algebras and hyperbolic quaternions not demonstrate a need for?

question: Lie algebras and hypobolic quanternions drew attention to the lack of need for what?

question: What did reviewer GB Mathews say algebraic structures did not possess?
context: At the time structures such as Lie algebras and hyperbolic quaternions drew attention to the need to expand algebraic structures beyond the associatively multiplicative class. In a review Alexander Macfarlane wrote: "The main idea of the work is not unification of the several methods, nor generalization of ordinary algebra so as to include them, but rather the comparative study of their several structures." In a separate review, G. B. Mathews wrote, "It possesses a unity of design which is really remarkable, considering the variety of its themes."

qas: question: How long did Whitehead and Russell think it would take them to complete Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: a year

question: How long did it actually take Whitehead and Russell to complete Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: ten years

question: How many volumes was Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: three

question: How many pages was Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: 2,000

question: Who paid to publish Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: Cambridge University Press

question: How long did Whitehead and Russell expect to spend creating Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: a year

question: How long did it actually take to complete Principia Mathematica? 
answers: text: ten years

question: Why was there a funding shortfall for the publishing of Princpia Mathematica? 
answers: text: the three-volume work was so massive (more than 2,000 pages) and its audience so narrow (professional mathematicians)

question: Who supplied the funding to cover the shortfall?
answers: text: 00 of which was paid by Cambridge University Press, 200 by the Royal Society of London, and 50 apiece by Whitehead and Russell

question: How prevalent is Principia Mathematica today?
answers: text: today there is likely no major academic library in the world which does not hold a copy of Principia Mathematica

question: How long did Whitehead and Russell not expect to spend creating Principia Mathematica?

question: Why was there a funding burst for the publishing of Princpia Mathematica?

question:  Who didn't supply the funding to cover the shortfall?

question:  How prevalent is Principia Mathematica when it came out?
context: Whitehead and Russell had thought originally that Principia Mathematica would take a year to complete; it ended up taking them ten years. To add insult to injury, when it came time for publication, the three-volume work was so massive (more than 2,000 pages) and its audience so narrow (professional mathematicians) that it was initially published at a loss of 600 pounds, 300 of which was paid by Cambridge University Press, 200 by the Royal Society of London, and 50 apiece by Whitehead and Russell themselves. Despite the initial loss, today there is likely no major academic library in the world which does not hold a copy of Principia Mathematica.

qas: question: When was Kurt Godel's incompleteness theorem?
answers: text: 1931

question: What did Kurt Godel's theorem demonstrate about axioms and the inference rules?
answers: text: some truths of mathematics which could not be deduced from them

question: Godel couldn't have come to his conclusion without what book?
answers: text: Principia Mathematica

question: Besides logic and epistemology, what else did Principia Mathematica connect?
answers: text: metaphysics

question: What is the general consensus of the axioms and inference rules declared in Principia Mathematica? 
answers: text: mixed

question: Who discovered the incompleteness theorem of 1931?
answers: text: Kurt Gödel

question: What did the incompleteness theorem of 1931 indicate regarding Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: for any set of axioms and inference rules proposed to encapsulate mathematics, there would in fact be some truths of mathematics which could not be deduced

question: Why was Gödels finding ironic?
answers: text: Gödel could not have come to this conclusion without Whitehead and Russell's book

question: Despite its imperfection, what are now considered valuable achievements of Principia Mathematica?
answers: text: the book popularized modern mathematical logic and drew important connections between logic, epistemology, and metaphysics

question: What is the general consensus of the axioms and inference rules not declared in Principia Mathematica?

question:  Who discovered the incompleteness theorem of 1961?

question: What did the incompleteness theorem of 1955 indicate regarding Principia Mathematica?
context: The ultimate substantive legacy of Principia Mathematica is mixed. It is generally accepted that Kurt Gödel's incompleteness theorem of 1931 definitively demonstrated that for any set of axioms and inference rules proposed to encapsulate mathematics, there would in fact be some truths of mathematics which could not be deduced from them, and hence that Principia Mathematica could never achieve its aims. However, Gödel could not have come to this conclusion without Whitehead and Russell's book. In this way, Principia Mathematica's legacy might be described as its key role in disproving the possibility of achieving its own stated goals. But beyond this somewhat ironic legacy, the book popularized modern mathematical logic and drew important connections between logic, epistemology, and metaphysics.

qas: question: What year was The Aims of Education and Other Essays published?
answers: text: 1929

question: What was the Aims of Education and Other Essays comprised of?
answers: text: numerous essays and addresses

question: What teaching did Whitehead caution against teaching?
answers: text: inert ideas

question: When was "The Aims of Education and Other Essays" published?
answers: text: 1929

question: During what periods of time were the essays and address contained in "The Aims of Education and Other Essays" composed?
answers: text: between 1912 and 1927

question: What is the origin of the title of the book?
answers: text: The essay from which Aims of Education derived its name was delivered as an address in 1916

question: How did Whitehead define "inert ideas"?
answers: text: ideas that are disconnected scraps of information, with no application to real life or culture

question: What was Whitehead's criticism of the use of inert ideas in education?
answers: text: "education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above all things, harmful."

question: When was "The Aims of DeEducation and Other Essays" published?

question: During what periods of time were the essays and address contained in "The Aims of Education and Other Essays" destroyed?

question:  What is the origin of the title of the song?

question:  How didn't Whitehead define "inert ideas"?

question: What was Whitehead's criticism of the use of inert ideas in noneducation?
context: Whitehead's most complete work on education is the 1929 book The Aims of Education and Other Essays, which collected numerous essays and addresses by Whitehead on the subject published between 1912 and 1927. The essay from which Aims of Education derived its name was delivered as an address in 1916 when Whitehead was president of the London Branch of the Mathematical Association. In it, he cautioned against the teaching of what he called "inert ideas" – ideas that are disconnected scraps of information, with no application to real life or culture. He opined that "education with inert ideas is not only useless: it is, above all things, harmful."

qas: question: Whitehead's education style was to teach what?
answers: text: a relatively few important concepts

question: What should Whitehead's students organically link due to his teaching methods?
answers: text: different areas of knowledge, discovering their application in actual life.

question: Whitehead believed education should be the opposite of what?
answers: text: value-free school model

question: What did Whitehead believe regarding the variety of subjects in education?
answers: text: Whitehead advocated teaching a relatively few important concepts

question: How did Whitehead propose that students would expand their knowledge beyond the subjects taught in school?
answers: text: important concepts that the student could organically link to many different areas of knowledge, discovering their application in actual life

question: What was Whitehead's general opinion of what the school model should be?
answers: text: For Whitehead, education should be the exact opposite of the multidisciplinary, value-free school model

question: What was Whitehead's opinion on the inclusion of values and general principles in education?
answers: text: it should be transdisciplinary, and laden with values and general principles that provide students with a bedrock of wisdom

question: How did Whitehead reject that students would expand their knowledge beyond the subjects taught in school?

question: What was Whitehead's opinion on the inclusion of values and general principles in noneducation?

question: What did Whitehead believe regarding the lack of variety of subjects in education?

question: What was Whitehead's general opinion of what the school model shouldn't be?
context: Rather than teach small parts of a large number of subjects, Whitehead advocated teaching a relatively few important concepts that the student could organically link to many different areas of knowledge, discovering their application in actual life. For Whitehead, education should be the exact opposite of the multidisciplinary, value-free school model – it should be transdisciplinary, and laden with values and general principles that provide students with a bedrock of wisdom and help them to make connections between areas of knowledge that are usually regarded as separate.

qas: question: What is the highest Whitehead was trained in philosophy? 
answers: text: undergraduate

question: What did Whitehead consider himself as a philosopher? 
answers: text: rank amateur

question: What is the relationship between Whitehead and Russell?
answers: text: friend and former student

question: What was Whitehead considered as a metaphysician?
answers: text: one of the 20th century's foremost metaphysicians.

question: What was the extent of Whitehead's education in philosophy?
answers: text: he never had any formal training in philosophy beyond his undergraduate education

question: With what friend and former student did Whitehead correspond regarding the goals of science?
answers: text: Bertrand Russell

question: What was Whitehead's opinion of his own knowledge of metaphysics in that correspondence?
answers: text: "This further question lands us in the ocean of metaphysic, onto which my profound ignorance of that science forbids me to enter."

question: How did Whitehead eventually become regarded in the field of metaphysics?
answers: text: in later life Whitehead would become one of the 20th century's foremost metaphysicians

question: What was the extent of Whitehead's noneducation in philosophy?

question: With what friend and former student did Whitehead not correspond regarding the goals of science?

question: What wasn't Whitehead's opinion of his own knowledge of metaphysics in that correspondence?

question: How did Whitehead eventually become regarded in the field of science?
context: Whitehead did not begin his career as a philosopher. In fact, he never had any formal training in philosophy beyond his undergraduate education. Early in his life he showed great interest in and respect for philosophy and metaphysics, but it is evident that he considered himself a rank amateur. In one letter to his friend and former student Bertrand Russell, after discussing whether science aimed to be explanatory or merely descriptive, he wrote: "This further question lands us in the ocean of metaphysic, onto which my profound ignorance of that science forbids me to enter." Ironically, in later life Whitehead would become one of the 20th century's foremost metaphysicians.

qas: question: What do philosophers do, in Whitehead's view?
answers: text: make metaphysical assumptions about how the universe works

question: Assumptions of how the universe works are difficult to see precisely because of what?
answers: text: they remain unexamined and unquestioned

question: What did Whitehead ask people to reimagine in order for philosophy to make progress?
answers: text: basic assumptions about how the universe works

question: What did Whitehead regard as essential to good science and good philosophy?
answers: text: metaphysical investigations

question: What quotation of Whitehead's was noted by a student in 1927?
answers: text: "Every scientific man in order to preserve his reputation has to say he dislikes metaphysics. What he means is he dislikes having his metaphysics criticized."

question: What was Whitehead's opinion of basic assumptions in metaphysics?
answers: text: such assumptions are not easily seen precisely because they remain unexamined and unquestioned

question: What did Whitehead feel was necessary regarding basic assumptions in metaphysics?
answers: text: people need to continually re-imagine their basic assumptions about how the universe works if philosophy and science are to make any real progress

question: What was Whitehead's opinion of metaphysical investigations?
answers: text: Whitehead regarded metaphysical investigations as essential to both good science and good philosophy

question:  What quotation of Whitehead's was noted by a student in 1977?

question: What did Whitehead feel was necessary regarding complex assumptions in metaphysics?

question:  What was Whitehead's opinion of nonmetaphysical investigations?
context: Whitehead was unimpressed by this objection. In the notes of one his students for a 1927 class, Whitehead was quoted as saying: "Every scientific man in order to preserve his reputation has to say he dislikes metaphysics. What he means is he dislikes having his metaphysics criticized." In Whitehead's view, scientists and philosophers make metaphysical assumptions about how the universe works all the time, but such assumptions are not easily seen precisely because they remain unexamined and unquestioned. While Whitehead acknowledged that "philosophers can never hope finally to formulate these metaphysical first principles," he argued that people need to continually re-imagine their basic assumptions about how the universe works if philosophy and science are to make any real progress, even if that progress remains permanently asymptotic. For this reason Whitehead regarded metaphysical investigations as essential to both good science and good philosophy.

qas: question: What idea states that reality is fundamentally constructed of bits of matter?
answers: text: Cartesian idea

question: Whitehead rejected the Cartesian idea in favor of what?
answers: text: an event-based or "process" ontology

question: Whitehead believed instead of matter existing independently of each other, it did what?
answers: text: interrelated and dependent

question: Whitehead believed that reality should be regarded as what?
answers: text: experiential

question: Whitehead's system as "philosophy of organism" became widely known as what term?
answers: text: process philosophy

question: What Cartesian concept did Whitehead believe to be erroneous?
answers: text: reality is fundamentally constructed of bits of matter that exist totally independently of one another

question: What theory did Whitehead prefer to the Cartesian concept?
answers: text: event-based or "process" ontology in which events are primary and are fundamentally interrelated and dependent on one another

question: How did whitehead define "experience"?
answers: text: He used the term "experience" very broadly, so that even inanimate processes such as electron collisions are said to manifest some degree of experience

question: How did Descartes' distinguish types of existence?
answers: text: two different kinds of real existence, either exclusively material or else exclusively mental

question: How did Whitehead identify his system of metaphysics?
answers: text: "philosophy of organism"

question: What Cartesian concept did Whitehead believe to be correct?

question:  What theory did Whitehead not prefer to the Cartesian concept?

question:  How did whitehead define "inexperience"?

question:  How did Whitehead identify his system of math?
context: Perhaps foremost among what Whitehead considered faulty metaphysical assumptions was the Cartesian idea that reality is fundamentally constructed of bits of matter that exist totally independently of one another, which he rejected in favor of an event-based or "process" ontology in which events are primary and are fundamentally interrelated and dependent on one another. He also argued that the most basic elements of reality can all be regarded as experiential, indeed that everything is constituted by its experience. He used the term "experience" very broadly, so that even inanimate processes such as electron collisions are said to manifest some degree of experience. In this, he went against Descartes' separation of two different kinds of real existence, either exclusively material or else exclusively mental. Whitehead referred to his metaphysical system as "philosophy of organism", but it would become known more widely as "process philosophy."

qas: question: In all of the western canon, what is Whitehead's work considered?
answers: text: the most difficult to understand

question: Who also struggled to follow Whitehead's writings?
answers: text: professional philosophers

question: When did Whitehead delivery the Gifford lectures?
answers: text: 1927–28

question: Following Arthur Eddington's lectures, what did Whitehead  publish?
answers: text: Process and Reality

question: What is the general opinion of the difficulty level of Whitehead's work in philosophy?
answers: text: generally considered to be among the most difficult to understand in all of the western canon

question: What lectures did Whitehead present in 1927-28?
answers: text: Gifford lectures

question: Under what name were those lectures later published?
answers: text: Process and Reality

question: What is the general opinion of the difficulty level of Whitehead's work in math?

question:  What lectures did Whitehead not present in 1927-28?

question:  Under what name were those lectures first published?

question: In all of the western canon, what is Whitehead's work never considered?
context: This is not to say that Whitehead's thought was widely accepted or even well-understood. His philosophical work is generally considered to be among the most difficult to understand in all of the western canon. Even professional philosophers struggled to follow Whitehead's writings. One famous story illustrating the level of difficulty of Whitehead's philosophy centers around the delivery of Whitehead's Gifford lectures in 1927–28 – following Arthur Eddington's lectures of the year previous – which Whitehead would later publish as Process and Reality:

qas: question: Who was frustrated in Whitehead's books but still interested?
answers: text: Mathews

question: What school recognized the importance of Whitehead's work?
answers: text: Chicago's Divinity School

question: Who was invited to the Chicago Divinity school as one of Whitehead's only experts?
answers: text: Henry Nelson Wieman

question: When was Henry Nelson Wieman invited to the Chicago Divinity school?
answers: text: 1927

question: What happened after Henry Nelson Wieman gave a lecture about Whitehead?
answers: text: hired

question: What affect did Matthews' opinion of the difficulty of Whitehead's works have on his interest in them?
answers: text: Mathews' frustration with Whitehead's books did not negatively affect his interest

question: How did many philosophers and theologians at Chicago's Divinity School view Whitehead's work?
answers: text: perceived the importance of what Whitehead was doing without fully grasping all of the details and implications

question: What expert on Whitehead delivered a lecture at the school to explain Whitehead's ideas?
answers: text: Henry Nelson Wieman

question: What was the result of that lecture?
answers: text: Wieman's lecture was so brilliant that he was promptly hired to the faculty and taught there for twenty years

question: What affect did Matthews' opinion of the ease of Whitehead's works have on his interest in them?

question: How did many philosophers and theologians at Illinois Divinity School view Whitehead's work?

question: What expert on Whitehead delivered a lecture at the school to reject Whitehead's ideas?

question:  Who was amused in Whitehead's books but still interested?
context: However, Mathews' frustration with Whitehead's books did not negatively affect his interest. In fact, there were numerous philosophers and theologians at Chicago's Divinity School that perceived the importance of what Whitehead was doing without fully grasping all of the details and implications. In 1927 they invited one of America's only Whitehead experts – Henry Nelson Wieman – to Chicago to give a lecture explaining Whitehead's thought. Wieman's lecture was so brilliant that he was promptly hired to the faculty and taught there for twenty years, and for at least thirty years afterward Chicago's Divinity School was closely associated with Whitehead's thought.

qas: question: Which publication is considered the most impressive metaphysical text?
answers: text: Process and Reality

question: Who thought Process and Reality was little-read because the reader has to separate them from normal thought?
answers: text: Isabelle Stengers

question: What philosophy in the west was challenged by Whitehead?
answers: text: how the universe works

question: What was Whitehead's philosophy able to anticipate for the 21st century?
answers: text: scientific and philosophical problems

question: What was the outcome of anticipating the scientific and philosophical problems Whitehead proposed?
answers: text: novel solutions

question: How has "Process and Reality" been described? 
answers: text: "arguably the most impressive single metaphysical text of the twentieth century,"

question: What did Isabelle Stengers say is the reason that "Process and Reality" is not commonly read and understood?
answers: text: it demands – as Isabelle Stengers puts it – "that its readers accept the adventure of the questions that will separate them from every consensus."

question: What effect did Whitehead have on the future of metaphysics?
answers: text: he managed to anticipate a number of 21st century scientific and philosophical problems and provide novel solutions.

question: How has "Process and Reality" been rejected?

question: What did Isabelle Stengers say is the reason that "Process and Reality" is commonly read and understood?

question:  What effect did Whitehead have on the past of metaphysics?

question: Which publication is considered the least impressive metaphysical text?
context: Wieman's words proved prophetic. Though Process and Reality has been called "arguably the most impressive single metaphysical text of the twentieth century," it has been little-read and little-understood, partly because it demands – as Isabelle Stengers puts it – "that its readers accept the adventure of the questions that will separate them from every consensus." Whitehead questioned western philosophy's most dearly held assumptions about how the universe works, but in doing so he managed to anticipate a number of 21st century scientific and philosophical problems and provide novel solutions.

qas: question: Concepts such as quality, matter, and form fail to account for what?
answers: text: change

question: What concepts overlook the experiential nature of basic elements?
answers: text: quality", "matter", and "form"

question: What are the concepts quality, matter, and form considered?
answers: text: "classical" concepts

question: Instead of being a single person, what does Whitehead view a person as?
answers: text: continuum of overlapping events

question: What does Whitehead call experiences that are progressively connected?
answers: text: society

question: What basic concepts did Whitehead believe were questionable?
answers: text: "quality", "matter", and "form"

question: Why did he believe those concepts were inaccurate?
answers: text: These "classical" concepts fail to adequately account for change, and overlook the active and experiential nature of the most basic elements of the world.

question: How did Whitehead classify what is usually seen as an individual person?
answers: text: a continuum of overlapping events

question: How did Whitehead refer to the combination of a person's separate experiences?
answers: text: a "society" of events

question: How did Whitehead define the "fallacy of misplaced concreteness"?
answers: text: By assuming that enduring objects are the most real and fundamental things in the universe, materialists have mistaken the abstract for the concrete

question:  What basic concepts did Whitehead believe were not questionable?

question:  Why did he believe those concepts were accurate?

question: How did Whitehead refer to the combination of a person's not separate experiences?

question: How did Whitehead classify what is usually seen as a nonindividual person?

question:  How did Whitehead define the "fallacy of well placed concreteness"?
context: In Whitehead's view, then, concepts such as "quality", "matter", and "form" are problematic. These "classical" concepts fail to adequately account for change, and overlook the active and experiential nature of the most basic elements of the world. They are useful abstractions, but are not the world's basic building blocks. What is ordinarily conceived of as a single person, for instance, is philosophically described as a continuum of overlapping events. After all, people change all the time, if only because they have aged by another second and had some further experience. These occasions of experience are logically distinct, but are progressively connected in what Whitehead calls a "society" of events. By assuming that enduring objects are the most real and fundamental things in the universe, materialists have mistaken the abstract for the concrete (what Whitehead calls the "fallacy of misplaced concreteness").

qas: question: The idea that people are unchanging and stay the same even through changes is considered what?
answers: text: defining essence

question: In Whitehead's cosmology, what are the only things that fundamentally exist?
answers: text: occasions of experience

question: Where do occasions of experience overlap?
answers: text: time and space

question: In Whitehead's view, identities do not define people, but what?
answers: text: people define identities

question: Instead of having an enduring essence, what does Whitehead believe?
answers: text: all things flow"

question: Regarding the idea that individuals or objects don't fundamentally change, what terms can be used to describe what an object or individual actually is?
answers: text: "defining essence" or a "core identity"

question: In that line of thinking, how are changes described?
answers: text: qualitative and secondary to their core identity

question: What did Whitehead believe were essentially the only things that truly exist?
answers: text: discrete "occasions of experience" that overlap one another in time and space, and jointly make up the enduring person or thing

question: Regarding the idea that individuals or objects fundamentally change, what terms can be used to describe what an object or individual actually is?

question:  In that line of thinking, how are changes never described?

question: What did Whitehead believe were not essentially the only things that truly exist?

question: The idea that people are changing and stay the same even through changes is considered what?

question: In Whitehead's cosmology, what are the only things that fundamentally dont exist?
context: To put it another way, a thing or person is often seen as having a "defining essence" or a "core identity" that is unchanging, and describes what the thing or person really is. In this way of thinking, things and people are seen as fundamentally the same through time, with any changes being qualitative and secondary to their core identity (e.g. "Mark's hair has turned gray as he has gotten older, but he is still the same person"). But in Whitehead's cosmology, the only fundamentally existent things are discrete "occasions of experience" that overlap one another in time and space, and jointly make up the enduring person or thing. On the other hand, what ordinary thinking often regards as "the essence of a thing" or "the identity/core of a person" is an abstract generalization of what is regarded as that person or thing's most important or salient features across time. Identities do not define people, people define identities. Everything changes from moment to moment, and to think of anything as having an "enduring essence" misses the fact that "all things flow", though it is often a useful way of speaking.

qas: question: What did Whitehead believe was a culprit in maintaining a materialistic way of thinking?
answers: text: limitations of language

question: Why couldn't each moment of each person's life be given a different proper name?
answers: text: limitations of language

question: Whitehead's main philosophy on humans changing is what?
answers: text: each thing is a different thing from what it was a moment ago

question: What did Whitehead believe was one of the biggest reasons materialistic thinking endured?
answers: text: limitations of language

question: Why did Whitehead think people continued to subscribe to materialistic thinking?
answers: text: it is easy and convenient to think of people and objects as remaining fundamentally the same things

question: What did Whitehead believe regarding factors that limit people's understanding of his concepts?
answers: text: should not prevent people from realizing that "material substances" or "essences" are a convenient generalized description of a continuum

question: What did Whitehead state about the belief that a person is exactly the same from moment to moment?
answers: text: it is not philosophically or ontologically sound

question: Why did Whitehead think people continued to subscribe to nonmaterialistic thinking?

question: What did Whitehead believe regarding factors that don't limit people's understanding of his concepts?

question: What did Whitehead believe was one of the biggest reasons materialistic thinking did not endure?
context: Whitehead pointed to the limitations of language as one of the main culprits in maintaining a materialistic way of thinking, and acknowledged that it may be difficult to ever wholly move past such ideas in everyday speech. After all, each moment of each person's life can hardly be given a different proper name, and it is easy and convenient to think of people and objects as remaining fundamentally the same things, rather than constantly keeping in mind that each thing is a different thing from what it was a moment ago. Yet the limitations of everyday living and everyday speech should not prevent people from realizing that "material substances" or "essences" are a convenient generalized description of a continuum of particular, concrete processes. No one questions that a ten-year-old person is quite different by the time he or she turns thirty years old, and in many ways is not the same person at all; Whitehead points out that it is not philosophically or ontologically sound to think that a person is the same from one second to the next.

qas: question: What obscures the importance of relations according to Whitehead?
answers: text: materialism

question: What does Materialism see each object as?
answers: text: distinct and discrete

question: How is each object related to other things?
answers: text: externally

question: What is another issue that Whitehead had with materialism?
answers: text: it obscures the importance of relations

question: What is the general materialistic view of an object?
answers: text: Each object is simply an inert clump of matter that is only externally related to other things

question: How the fundamental concept of matter influence people to view objects?
answers: text: The idea of matter as primary makes people think of objects as being fundamentally separate in time and space, and not necessarily related to anything

question: What is Whitehead's belief regarding the importance of relations?
answers: text: in Whitehead's view, relations take a primary role, perhaps even more important than the relata themselves

question: What is the materialistic view of matter in relation to other objects?
answers: text: It sees every object as distinct and discrete from all other objects.

question: How the fundamental concept of matter influence people to not view objects?

question:  What is another issue that Whitehead had without materialism?

question:  What is the general non-materialistic view of an object?

question:  What is Whitehead's non-belief regarding the importance of relations?

question: What is the materialistic view of matter in relation to no ohter objects?
context: A second problem with materialism is that it obscures the importance of relations. It sees every object as distinct and discrete from all other objects. Each object is simply an inert clump of matter that is only externally related to other things. The idea of matter as primary makes people think of objects as being fundamentally separate in time and space, and not necessarily related to anything. But in Whitehead's view, relations take a primary role, perhaps even more important than the relata themselves. A student taking notes in one of Whitehead's fall 1924 classes wrote that:

qas: question: Whitehead believes any entity is in some sense what?
answers: text: nothing more and nothing less than the sum of its relations to other entities

question: If an object made no difference to any other entity, what could be said about it?
answers: text: not be said to really exist.

question: If relations are not secondary to what a thing is, what is it?
answers: text: they are what the thing is

question: What makes up the sum of relations to an entity?
answers: text: rld around it

question: A real object forces the universe to do what?
answers: text: in some way conform to it

question: How does Whitehead characterize anything that exists?
answers: text: in some sense nothing more and nothing less than the sum of its relations to other entities – its synthesis of and reaction to the world around it

question: How does he describe what makes something real?
answers: text: A real thing is just that which forces the rest of the universe to in some way conform to it

question: In Whitehead's thinking, what could be said about something that has no effect on any other person or object?
answers: text: if theoretically a thing made strictly no difference to any other entity (i.e. it was not related to any other entity), it could not be said to really exist

question: What did Whitehead believe about the concept of relations in the context of defining an entity?
answers: text: Relations are not secondary to what a thing is, they are what the thing is.

question: How does Whitehead not characterize anything that exists?

question:  How does he describe what makes something fake?

question: In Whitehead's thinking, what could be said about something that has a lot of effect on any other person or object?

question: What did Whitehead believe about the concept of relations in the context of not defining an entity?
context: In fact, Whitehead describes any entity as in some sense nothing more and nothing less than the sum of its relations to other entities – its synthesis of and reaction to the world around it. A real thing is just that which forces the rest of the universe to in some way conform to it; that is to say, if theoretically a thing made strictly no difference to any other entity (i.e. it was not related to any other entity), it could not be said to really exist. Relations are not secondary to what a thing is, they are what the thing is.

qas: question: An entity is a sum of relations, a valuation of them and what else?
answers: text: reaction to them.

question: Most entities do not have what?
answers: text: consciousness

question: All entities, being unable to predict behavior, are because of what?
answers: text: the fundamental creativity/freedom of all entities

question: Not being able to predict what any entity is going to do is what principle b Whitehead?
answers: text: creativity is the absolute principle of existence

question: Other than the combination of its relations, what else defines an entity?
answers: text: an entity is not merely a sum of its relations, but also a valuation of them and reaction to them

question: What did Whitehead believe regarding creativity?
answers: text: creativity is the absolute principle of existence

question: What did Whitehead believe about an entity's relation to other entities?
answers: text: has some degree of novelty in how it responds to other entities, and is not fully determined by causal or mechanistic laws

question: Other than the combination of its relations, what else does not define an entity?

question: What did Whitehead believe regarding non-creativity?

question:  An entity is not a sum of relations, a valuation of them and what else?
context: It must be emphasized, however, that an entity is not merely a sum of its relations, but also a valuation of them and reaction to them. For Whitehead, creativity is the absolute principle of existence, and every entity (whether it is a human being, a tree, or an electron) has some degree of novelty in how it responds to other entities, and is not fully determined by causal or mechanistic laws. Of course, most entities do not have consciousness. As a human being's actions cannot always be predicted, the same can be said of where a tree's roots will grow, or how an electron will move, or whether it will rain tomorrow. Moreover, inability to predict an electron's movement (for instance) is not due to faulty understanding or inadequate technology; rather, the fundamental creativity/freedom of all entities means that there will always remain phenomena that are unpredictable.

qas: question: What term did Whitehead describe that perception is not limited to the living?
answers: text: prehension

question: What language does the term "prehensio" come from?
answers: text: Latin

question: What does the word "Prehensio" translate into?
answers: text: to seize

question: What entities does the term prehension apply to?
answers: text: conscious or unconscious

question: How many modes does perception occur in according to Whitehead?
answers: text: two

question: What is the origin of the word "prehension"?
answers: text: comes from the Latin prehensio, meaning "to seize."

question: What is prehension used to define?
answers: text: a kind of perception that can be conscious or unconscious, applying to people as well as electrons

question: What is a basic description of the theory of representative perception?
answers: text: the mind only has private ideas about other entities

question: What does the term "prehension" signify regarding an entities perceptions and relations?
answers: text: entities are constituted by their perceptions and relations, rather than being independent of them

question: What did Whitehead state are the two types of perception?
answers: text: causal efficacy (or "physical prehension") and presentational immediacy (or "conceptual prehension")

question: What does the term "prehension" signify regarding an entities nonperceptions and nonrelations?

question: What is a basic description of the theory of non-representative perception?

question:  What is not the origin of the word "prehension"?

question: What is prehension used to not define?
context: Since Whitehead's metaphysics described a universe in which all entities experience, he needed a new way of describing perception that was not limited to living, self-conscious beings. The term he coined was "prehension", which comes from the Latin prehensio, meaning "to seize." The term is meant to indicate a kind of perception that can be conscious or unconscious, applying to people as well as electrons. It is also intended to make clear Whitehead's rejection of the theory of representative perception, in which the mind only has private ideas about other entities. For Whitehead, the term "prehension" indicates that the perceiver actually incorporates aspects of the perceived thing into itself. In this way, entities are constituted by their perceptions and relations, rather than being independent of them. Further, Whitehead regards perception as occurring in two modes, causal efficacy (or "physical prehension") and presentational immediacy (or "conceptual prehension").

qas: question: What is the term for the experience dominating primitive organisms that have a sense for fate?
answers: text: causal efficacy

question: What is the other term for "pure sense perception"?
answers: text: Presentational immediacy

question: What is it called if you mistake a reflection in a mirror for the real thing?
answers: text: Presentational immediacy

question: How does Whitehead define causal efficacy?
answers: text: "the experience dominating the primitive living organisms, which have a sense for the fate from which they have emerged, and the fate towards which they go."

question: How do the senses affect causal efficacy?
answers: text: unmediated by the senses

question: How does Whitehead define presentational immediacy?
answers: text: "pure sense perception", unmediated by any causal or symbolic interpretation, even unconscious interpretation

question: What can be said about the accuracy of presentational immediacy?
answers: text: it is pure appearance, which may or may not be delusive

question: What can be said about the inaccuracy of presentational immediacy?

question:  How does Whitehead define noncausal efficacy?

question:  How do the senses affect non-causal efficacy?

question:  How does Whitehead define unpresentational immediacy?
context: Whitehead describes causal efficacy as "the experience dominating the primitive living organisms, which have a sense for the fate from which they have emerged, and the fate towards which they go." It is, in other words, the sense of causal relations between entities, a feeling of being influenced and affected by the surrounding environment, unmediated by the senses. Presentational immediacy, on the other hand, is what is usually referred to as "pure sense perception", unmediated by any causal or symbolic interpretation, even unconscious interpretation. In other words, it is pure appearance, which may or may not be delusive (e.g. mistaking an image in a mirror for "the real thing").

qas: question: What is Whitehead's term for the two modes of perceptions combining?
answers: text: symbolic reference

question: What does symbolic reference link appearance with?
answers: text: causation

question: What dominates more basic mentality in symbolic reference?
answers: text: causal relationships

question: What does having sense perceptions conclude about a person?
answers: text: higher grade mentality

question: What is the purpose of symbolic reference?
answers: text: links appearance with causation in a process that is so automatic that both people and animals have difficulty refraining from it

question: How does Whitehead describe the process of a typical person noticing a chair?
answers: text: An ordinary person looks up, sees a colored shape, and immediately infers that it is a chair

question: How might an artist view a chair differently than a typical person?
answers: text: "might have stopped at the mere contemplation of a beautiful color and a beautiful shape."

question: How does Whitehead say a dog may interpret the presence of a chair?
answers: text: "would have acted immediately on the hypothesis of a chair and would have jumped onto it by way of using it as such."

question: Which concept does Whitehead state is more dominant in a lower mentality?
answers: text: causal relationships

question: How does Whitehead describe the process of an atypical person noticing a chair?

question:  How might an artist view a chair the same as a typical person?

question:  How does Whitehead say a dog may not interpret the presence of a chair?

question: Which concept does Whitehead state is less dominant in a lower mentality?
context: In higher organisms (like people), these two modes of perception combine into what Whitehead terms "symbolic reference", which links appearance with causation in a process that is so automatic that both people and animals have difficulty refraining from it. By way of illustration, Whitehead uses the example of a person's encounter with a chair. An ordinary person looks up, sees a colored shape, and immediately infers that it is a chair. However, an artist, Whitehead supposes, "might not have jumped to the notion of a chair", but instead "might have stopped at the mere contemplation of a beautiful color and a beautiful shape." This is not the normal human reaction; most people place objects in categories by habit and instinct, without even thinking about it. Moreover, animals do the same thing. Using the same example, Whitehead points out that a dog "would have acted immediately on the hypothesis of a chair and would have jumped onto it by way of using it as such." In this way symbolic reference is a fusion of pure sense perceptions on the one hand and causal relations on the other, and that it is in fact the causal relationships that dominate the more basic mentality (as the dog illustrates), while it is the sense perceptions which indicate a higher grade mentality (as the artist illustrates).

qas: question: Whitehead observes that life is deficient in what?
answers: text: survival value

question: What are higher life forms actively engaged in?
answers: text: modifying their environment

question: How many goals of living is there?
answers: text: three

question: Whitehead sees life as directed towards what purpose?
answers: text: increasing its own satisfaction

question: Without Whitehead's proposed purpose, life would be what?
answers: text: unintelligible

question: What observation did Whitehead make about life?
answers: text: "life is comparatively deficient in survival value."

question: What was Whitehead's response to questions about why complex life evolved?
answers: text: "they certainly did not appear because they were better at that game than the rocks around them."

question: What did Whitehead state was the biggest indicator of a higher form of life?
answers: text: they are actively engaged in modifying their environment

question: What did Whitehead believe are the goals f life?
answers: text: living, living well, and living better

question: What did Whitehead believe was the fundamental purpose of life?
answers: text: increasing its own satisfaction

question: What did Whitehead believe are not the goals of life?

question:  Whitehead observes that life is never deficient in what?

question:  What are higher life forms never actively engaged in?

question:  Whitehead sees life as directed away from what purpose?
context: Whitehead makes the startling observation that "life is comparatively deficient in survival value." If humans can only exist for about a hundred years, and rocks for eight hundred million, then one is forced to ask why complex organisms ever evolved in the first place; as Whitehead humorously notes, "they certainly did not appear because they were better at that game than the rocks around them." He then observes that the mark of higher forms of life is that they are actively engaged in modifying their environment, an activity which he theorizes is directed toward the three-fold goal of living, living well, and living better. In other words, Whitehead sees life as directed toward the purpose of increasing its own satisfaction. Without such a goal, he sees the rise of life as totally unintelligible.

qas: question: What is Whitehead's most well-known critical statement regarding the Christian notion of God?
answers: text: "the Church gave unto God the attributes which belonged exclusively to Caesar."

question: What qualities dis Whitehead state that Christians attributed to their version of God?
answers: text: primarily a divine king who imposes his will on the world, and whose most important attribute is power

question: What was Whitehead's description of God?
answers: text: "the brief Galilean vision of humility"

question: What was Whitehead's description of The Devil?

question: What is Whitehead's least well-known critical statement regarding the Christian notion of God?

question:  What qualities dis Whitehead not state that Christians attributed to their version of God?
context: Whitehead's idea of God differs from traditional monotheistic notions. Perhaps his most famous and pointed criticism of the Christian conception of God is that "the Church gave unto God the attributes which belonged exclusively to Caesar." Here Whitehead is criticizing Christianity for defining God as primarily a divine king who imposes his will on the world, and whose most important attribute is power. As opposed to the most widely accepted forms of Christianity, Whitehead emphasized an idea of God that he called "the brief Galilean vision of humility":

qas: question: What was Whitehead's belief about God in relation to religion?
answers: text: God is not necessarily tied to religion

question: Why did Whitehead view the existence of God as a necessity for his metaphysical system?
answers: text: His system required that an order exist among possibilities, an order that allowed for novelty in the world and provided an aim to all entities.

question: In what did Whitehead believe that those concepts existed?
answers: text: primordial nature of God

question: What did Whitehead view as the second nature of God?
answers: text: the consequent nature

question: What type of God did Whitehead believe existed?
answers: text: dipolar

question: What was Whitehead's belief about God in relation to nonreligion?

question:  What did Whitehead view as the first nature of God?

question:  What type of God did Whitehead believe never existed?

question: Why did Whitehead view the existence of God as a necessity for his mathematical system?
context: It should be emphasized, however, that for Whitehead God is not necessarily tied to religion. Rather than springing primarily from religious faith, Whitehead saw God as necessary for his metaphysical system. His system required that an order exist among possibilities, an order that allowed for novelty in the world and provided an aim to all entities. Whitehead posited that these ordered potentials exist in what he called the primordial nature of God. However, Whitehead was also interested in religious experience. This led him to reflect more intensively on what he saw as the second nature of God, the consequent nature. Whitehead's conception of God as a "dipolar" entity has called for fresh theological thinking.

qas: question: How does Whitehead define he consequent nature of God?
answers: text: God's reception of the world's activity

question: How does Whitehead describe the judgment of God?
answers: text: It is the judgment of a tenderness which loses nothing that can be saved.

question: What does Whitehead say that God does with all experiences?
answers: text: God saves and cherishes all experiences forever

question: What effect does Whitehead claim that experiences have on God?
answers: text: those experiences go on to change the way God interacts with the world

question: What conclusion does Whitehead draw about God's treatment of humans' experiences?
answers: text: God is really changed by what happens in the world and the wider universe, lending the actions of finite creatures an eternal significance.

question: How does Whitehead define inconsequent nature of God?

question:  How does Whitehead not describe the judgment of God?

question:  What does Whitehead say that God does with no experiences?

question: What conclusion does Whitehead draw about God's treatment of humans' inexperiences?
context: God's consequent nature, on the other hand, is anything but unchanging – it is God's reception of the world's activity. As Whitehead puts it, "[God] saves the world as it passes into the immediacy of his own life. It is the judgment of a tenderness which loses nothing that can be saved." In other words, God saves and cherishes all experiences forever, and those experiences go on to change the way God interacts with the world. In this way, God is really changed by what happens in the world and the wider universe, lending the actions of finite creatures an eternal significance.

qas: question: How does Whitehead view the relationship between God an the world?
answers: text: Whitehead thus sees God and the world as fulfilling one another

question: How does he define entities' need for God?
answers: text: He sees entities in the world as fluent and changing things that yearn for a permanence which only God can provide

question: How dis Whitehead believe God provided permanence to entities?
answers: text: by taking them into God's self, thereafter changing God and affecting the rest of the universe throughout time

question: In what way did Whitehead view God as deficient?
answers: text: deficient in actuality and change

question: What did Whitehead claim God would be without the world?
answers: text: merely eternally unrealized possibilities

question: How does he define entities' lack of God?

question: How dis Whitehead believe God provided impermanence to entities?

question:  What did Whitehead claim God would be with the world?
context: Whitehead thus sees God and the world as fulfilling one another. He sees entities in the world as fluent and changing things that yearn for a permanence which only God can provide by taking them into God's self, thereafter changing God and affecting the rest of the universe throughout time. On the other hand, he sees God as permanent but as deficient in actuality and change: alone, God is merely eternally unrealized possibilities, and requires the world to actualize them. God gives creatures permanence, while the creatures give God actuality and change. Here it is worthwhile to quote Whitehead at length:

qas: question: What did Whitehead believe was the basis of religion?
answers: text: individual

question: What is Whitehead's most famous statement on religion?
answers: text: "religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness ... and if you are never solitary, you are never religious."

question: How did Whitehead define religion?
answers: text: a system of general truths that transformed a person's character

question: How did Whitehead define "dangerous delusion" as it relates to religion?
answers: text: while religion is often a good influence, it is not necessarily good

question:  What did Whitehead believe was the basis of nonreligion?

question:  What is Whitehead's most famous statement on nonreligion?

question:  How did Whitehead define nonreligion?

question: How did Whitehead define "dangerous delusion" as it doesn't relate to religion?
context: For Whitehead the core of religion was individual. While he acknowledged that individuals cannot ever be fully separated from their society, he argued that life is an internal fact for its own sake before it is an external fact relating to others. His most famous remark on religion is that "religion is what the individual does with his own solitariness ... and if you are never solitary, you are never religious." Whitehead saw religion as a system of general truths that transformed a person's character. He took special care to note that while religion is often a good influence, it is not necessarily good – an idea which he called a "dangerous delusion" (e.g., a religion might encourage the violent extermination of a rival religion's adherents).

qas: question: In what state did Whitehead believe religion began?
answers: text: solitariness

question: What realization did Whitehead believe religion made necessary?
answers: text: "the value of the objective world which is a community derivative from the interrelations of its component individuals."

question: What did Whitehead believe was necessary for an entity to have meaning and value?
answers: text: meaning and value do not exist for the individual alone, but only in the context of the universal community

question: How does Whitehead describe religion as world-loyalty?
answers: text: The spirit at once surrenders itself to this universal claim and appropriates it for itself

question: What did Whitehead believe was the relationship between the individual and social aspects of religion?
answers: text: the individual and universal/social aspects of religion are mutually dependent

question: How does Whitehead describe religion as non-world-loyalty?

question:  In what state did Whitehead believe religion not begin?

question: What did Whitehead believe was not necessary for an entity to have meaning and value?

question:  What did Whitehead believe was the relationship between the individual and nonsocial aspects of religion?
context: However, while Whitehead saw religion as beginning in solitariness, he also saw religion as necessarily expanding beyond the individual. In keeping with his process metaphysics in which relations are primary, he wrote that religion necessitates the realization of "the value of the objective world which is a community derivative from the interrelations of its component individuals." In other words, the universe is a community which makes itself whole through the relatedness of each individual entity to all the others – meaning and value do not exist for the individual alone, but only in the context of the universal community. Whitehead writes further that each entity "can find no such value till it has merged its individual claim with that of the objective universe. Religion is world-loyalty. The spirit at once surrenders itself to this universal claim and appropriates it for itself." In this way the individual and universal/social aspects of religion are mutually dependent.

qas: question: What was Whitehead's technical definition of religion?
answers: text: "an ultimate craving to infuse into the insistent particularity of emotion that non-temporal generality which primarily belongs to conceptual thought alone."

question: What did Whitehead believe religion did with strong emotions?
answers: text: religion takes deeply felt emotions and contextualizes them within a system of general truths about the world

question: What purpose did Whitehead believe religion served?
answers: text: a kind of bridge between philosophy and the emotions and purposes of a particular society

question: What did Whitehead believe was the job of religion regarding philosophy?
answers: text: It is the task of religion to make philosophy applicable to the everyday lives of ordinary people.

question: What was Whitehead's technical definition of nonreligion?

question:  What did Whitehead believe religion did with weak emotions?

question:  What purpose did Whitehead believe religion never served?

question: What did Whitehead believe was the job of religion not regarding philosophy?
context: Whitehead also described religion more technically as "an ultimate craving to infuse into the insistent particularity of emotion that non-temporal generality which primarily belongs to conceptual thought alone." In other words, religion takes deeply felt emotions and contextualizes them within a system of general truths about the world, helping people to identify their wider meaning and significance. For Whitehead, religion served as a kind of bridge between philosophy and the emotions and purposes of a particular society. It is the task of religion to make philosophy applicable to the everyday lives of ordinary people.

qas: question: According to Isabelle Stengers, what are unifying factors in diverse practices (like ecology and feminism) that have become interested in Whitehead's work?
answers: text: practices that unite political struggle and spirituality with the sciences of education

question: In what areas of the world has interest in Whitehead's work spread in recent decades?
answers: text: Europe and China

question: What other fields have shown more recent interest in Whitehead's work?
answers: text: ecology, physics, biology, education, economics, and psychology

question: Who was one of the first theologians to try to interact with Whitehead's ideas?
answers: text: William Temple

question: What was the basis for "Nature, Man and God"?
answers: text: Temple's Gifford Lectures of 1932-1934

question: According to Isabelle Stengers, what are non unifying factors in diverse practices (like ecology and feminism) that have become interested in Whitehead's work?

question: In what areas of the world has interest in Whitehead's work spread in past decades?

question: What other fields have shown less recent interest in Whitehead's work?

question: Who was one of the last theologians to try to interact with Whitehead's ideas?
context: Isabelle Stengers wrote that "Whiteheadians are recruited among both philosophers and theologians, and the palette has been enriched by practitioners from the most diverse horizons, from ecology to feminism, practices that unite political struggle and spirituality with the sciences of education." Indeed, in recent decades attention to Whitehead's work has become more widespread, with interest extending to intellectuals in Europe and China, and coming from such diverse fields as ecology, physics, biology, education, economics, and psychology. One of the first theologians to attempt to interact with Whitehead's thought was the future Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple. In Temple's Gifford Lectures of 1932-1934 (subsequently published as "Nature, Man and God"), Whitehead is one of a number of philosophers of the emergent evolution approach Temple interacts with. However, it was not until the 1970s and 1980s that Whitehead's thought drew much attention outside of a small group of philosophers and theologians, primarily Americans, and even today he is not considered especially influential outside of relatively specialized circles.

qas: question: Where were the first followers mainly found?
answers: text: at the University of Chicago's Divinity School

question: Who began the interest in Whitehead at Chicago's Divinity School?
answers: text: Henry Nelson Wieman

question: What professors established the importance of Whitehead's work?
answers: text: Wieman, Charles Hartshorne, Bernard Loomer, Bernard Meland, and Daniel Day Williams

question: Who id the most well-known Whitehead scholar?
answers: text: John B. Cobb

question: Where were the last followers mainly found?

question: Who lost the interest in Whitehead at Chicago's Divinity School?

question:  What professors established the unimportance of Whitehead's work?

question:  Who is the least well-known Whitehead scholar?
context: Early followers of Whitehead were found primarily at the University of Chicago's Divinity School, where Henry Nelson Wieman initiated an interest in Whitehead's work that would last for about thirty years. Professors such as Wieman, Charles Hartshorne, Bernard Loomer, Bernard Meland, and Daniel Day Williams made Whitehead's philosophy arguably the most important intellectual thread running through the Divinity School. They taught generations of Whitehead scholars, the most notable of which is John B. Cobb, Jr.

qas: question: Where is interest in Whitehead's work growing the fastest today?
answers: text: China

question: What challenges are China using Whitehead's ideas to help manage?
answers: text: modernization and industrialization

question: What types of traditions are China blending with Whitehead's "constructive post-modern" philosophy?
answers: text: traditions of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism

question: What philosphers' writings are becoming required reading for graduate students in China?
answers: text: John Cobb and David Ray Griffin

question: Why does John Cobb believe China has become interested in process philosophy?
answers: text: interdependence of humanity and nature, as well as his emphasis on an educational system that includes the teaching of values rather than simply bare facts

question: Where is interest in Whitehead's work growing the slowest today?

question: What challenges are Japan using Whitehead's ideas to help manage?

question: What types of traditions are China blending with Whitehead's "constructive pre-modern" philosophy?

question: What philosphers' writings are becoming not required reading for graduate students in China?
context: But while Claremont remains the most concentrated hub of Whiteheadian activity, the place where Whitehead's thought currently seems to be growing the most quickly is in China. In order to address the challenges of modernization and industrialization, China has begun to blend traditions of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism with Whitehead's "constructive post-modern" philosophy in order to create an "ecological civilization." To date, the Chinese government has encouraged the building of twenty-three university-based centers for the study of Whitehead's philosophy, and books by process philosophers John Cobb and David Ray Griffin are becoming required reading for Chinese graduate students. Cobb has attributed China's interest in process philosophy partly to Whitehead's stress on the mutual interdependence of humanity and nature, as well as his emphasis on an educational system that includes the teaching of values rather than simply bare facts.

qas: question: Where are Whitehead's works primarily studied in English-speaking countries?
answers: text: Claremont and a select number of liberal graduate-level theology and philosophy programs

question: Where has interest outside of those areas mainly come from?
answers: text: through the work of his students and admirers rather

question: Who are two of Whitehead's students that have gone on to become renowned in the field of analytic philosophy?
answers: text: Bertrand Russell, and he also taught and supervised the dissertation of Willard Van Orman Quine

question: What did Gilles Deleuze say about Whitehead?
answers: text: "he stands provisionally as the last great Anglo-American philosopher before Wittgenstein's disciples spread their misty confusion, sufficiency, and terror."

question: What French sociologist and anthropologist stated that Whitehead was "the greatest philosopher of the 20th century"?
answers: text: Bruno Latour

question: Where are Whitehead's works was not primarily studied in English-speaking countries?

question:  Where has no interest outside of those areas mainly come from?

question:  Who are two of Whitehead's students that have not gone on to become renowned in the field of analytic philosophy?

question:  What did Gilles Deleuze hate about Whitehead?
context: Overall, however, Whitehead's influence is very difficult to characterize. In English-speaking countries, his primary works are little-studied outside of Claremont and a select number of liberal graduate-level theology and philosophy programs. Outside of these circles his influence is relatively small and diffuse, and has tended to come chiefly through the work of his students and admirers rather than Whitehead himself. For instance, Whitehead was a teacher and long-time friend and collaborator of Bertrand Russell, and he also taught and supervised the dissertation of Willard Van Orman Quine, both of whom are important figures in analytic philosophy – the dominant strain of philosophy in English-speaking countries in the 20th century. Whitehead has also had high-profile admirers in the continental tradition, such as French post-structuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who once dryly remarked of Whitehead that "he stands provisionally as the last great Anglo-American philosopher before Wittgenstein's disciples spread their misty confusion, sufficiency, and terror." French sociologist and anthropologist Bruno Latour even went so far as to call Whitehead "the greatest philosopher of the 20th century."

qas: question: What is the general opinion of Whitehead in most philosophical schools?
answers: text: Whitehead has not been recognized as particularly influential within the most dominant philosophical schools

question: what is an example of Whitehead's ideas being counter-intuitive?
answers: text: his assertion that matter is an abstraction

question: What is a common opinion of metaphysics?
answers: text: perception of metaphysics itself as passé

question: Why do some people believe Whitehead's writings may have restricted his influence?
answers: text: the sheer difficulty and density of his prose

question: What is the general opinion of Whitehead in less philosophical schools?

question:  what is an example of Whitehead's ideas not being counter-intuitive?

question:  What is an uncommon opinion of metaphysics?

question: Why do some people believe Whitehead's writings may have not restricted his influence?
context: Deleuze's and Latour's opinions, however, are minority ones, as Whitehead has not been recognized as particularly influential within the most dominant philosophical schools. It is impossible to say exactly why Whitehead's influence has not been more widespread, but it may be partly due to his metaphysical ideas seeming somewhat counter-intuitive (such as his assertion that matter is an abstraction), or his inclusion of theistic elements in his philosophy, or the perception of metaphysics itself as passé, or simply the sheer difficulty and density of his prose.

qas: question: In what field of study has Whitehead's work been most influential in the United States?
answers: text: American progressive theology

question: Who was the most important early supporter of Whitehead's work in the context of theology?
answers: text: Charles Hartshorne

question: What advancement of Whitehead's process philosophy is attributed to Charles Hartshorne?
answers: text: developing Whitehead's process philosophy into a full-blown process theology

question: Who are some other distinguished process theologians?
answers: text: John B. Cobb, Jr., David Ray Griffin, Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, C. Robert Mesle, Roland Faber, and Catherine Keller

question: In what field of study has Whitehead's work been less influential in the United States?

question: Who was the least important early supporter of Whitehead's work in the context of theology?

question: What advancement of Whitehead's process philosophy is not attributed to Charles Hartshorne?
context: Historically Whitehead's work has been most influential in the field of American progressive theology. The most important early proponent of Whitehead's thought in a theological context was Charles Hartshorne, who spent a semester at Harvard as Whitehead's teaching assistant in 1925, and is widely credited with developing Whitehead's process philosophy into a full-blown process theology. Other notable process theologians include John B. Cobb, Jr., David Ray Griffin, Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, C. Robert Mesle, Roland Faber, and Catherine Keller.

qas: question: What aspect of God is usually emphasized in process theology?
answers: text: God's relational nature

question: How is God usually perceived by process theologians?
answers: text: "the fellow sufferer who understands", and as the being who is supremely affected by temporal events

question: Why did Hartshorne feel that God must be affected by people?
answers: text: people would not praise a human ruler who was unaffected by either the joys or sorrows of his followers – so why would this be a praise-worthy quality in God?

question: Why would God being substantially affected by the world be beneficial?
answers: text: as the being who is most affected by the world, God is the being who can most appropriately respond to the world

question: What type of process theology does C. Robert Mesle promote?
answers: text: "process naturalism", i.e. a process theology without God.

question:  What aspect of God is not emphasized in process theology?

question:  How is God usually never perceived by process theologians?

question:  Why did Hartshorne feel that God must not be affected by people?
context: Process theology typically stresses God's relational nature. Rather than seeing God as impassive or emotionless, process theologians view God as "the fellow sufferer who understands", and as the being who is supremely affected by temporal events. Hartshorne points out that people would not praise a human ruler who was unaffected by either the joys or sorrows of his followers – so why would this be a praise-worthy quality in God? Instead, as the being who is most affected by the world, God is the being who can most appropriately respond to the world. However, process theology has been formulated in a wide variety of ways. C. Robert Mesle, for instance, advocates a "process naturalism", i.e. a process theology without God.

qas: question: Why is there difficulty in defining process theology ?
answers: text: process theologians are so diverse and transdisciplinary in their views and interests

question: What subjects has John B. Cobb, Jr. written books on other than process theology?
answers: text: biology and economics

question: What theories do Roland Faber and Catherine Keller combine with Whitehead's ideas?
answers: text: poststructuralist, postcolonialist, and feminist theory

question: What was Charles Birch's profession besides theologian?
answers: text: geneticist

question: Who authored "Syntheism - Creating God in the Internet Age"?
answers: text: Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist

question:  Why is there no difficulty in defining process theology?

question: What subjects has John B. Cobb, Jr. burned books on other than process theology?

question: What theories do Roland Faber and Catherine Keller not combine with Whitehead's ideas?

question:  What wasnt Charles Birch's profession besides theologian?
context: In fact, process theology is difficult to define because process theologians are so diverse and transdisciplinary in their views and interests. John B. Cobb, Jr. is a process theologian who has also written books on biology and economics. Roland Faber and Catherine Keller integrate Whitehead with poststructuralist, postcolonialist, and feminist theory. Charles Birch was both a theologian and a geneticist. Franklin I. Gamwell writes on theology and political theory. In Syntheism - Creating God in The Internet Age, futurologists Alexander Bard and Jan Söderqvist repeatedly credit Whitehead for the process theology they see rising out of the participatory culture expected to dominate the digital era.

qas: question: What philosophy is closely related to process philosophy?
answers: text: American pragmatism

question: What pragmatists did Whitehead acknowledge in the preface to "Process and Reality"?
answers: text: William James and John Dewey

question: What founder of pragmatism's collected papers did Charles Hartshorne ans Paul Weiss edit?
answers: text: Charles Sanders Peirce

question: What important neopragmatist was Harthorne's student?
answers: text: Richard Rorty

question: Who is a philosopher that promotes process philosophy and pragmatism currently?
answers: text: Nicholas Rescher

question:  What pragmatists did Whitehead not acknowledge in the preface to "Process and Reality"?

question: What founder of pragmatism's collected papers did Charles Hartshorne and Paul Weiss not edit?

question:  What unimportant neopragmatist was Harthorne's student?

question:  Who is a philosopher that doesn't promote process philosophy and pragmatism currently?
context: One philosophical school which has historically had a close relationship with process philosophy is American pragmatism. Whitehead himself thought highly of William James and John Dewey, and acknowledged his indebtedness to them in the preface to Process and Reality. Charles Hartshorne (along with Paul Weiss) edited the collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, one of the founders of pragmatism. Noted neopragmatist Richard Rorty was in turn a student of Hartshorne. Today, Nicholas Rescher is one example of a philosopher who advocates both process philosophy and pragmatism.

qas: question: How was Whitehead's theory of gravitation received?
answers: text: It has been severely criticized

question: What affect  did the discovery of gravitational waves have on Whitehead's theory?
answers: text: Whitehead's view has now been rendered obsolete, with the discovery of gravitational waves

question: What are gravitational waves?
answers: text: phenonena observed locally that largely violate the kind of local flatness of space that Whitehead assumes

question: How must Whiteheads cosmology now be considered?
answers: text: Whitehead's cosmology must be regarded as a local approximation

question: What physicists in the field of quantum theory have been influenced by Whitehead?
answers: text: Henry Stapp and David Bohm

question: How was Whitehead's theory of non-gravitation received?

question: What affect did the discovery of gravitational waves not have on Whitehead's theory?

question:  What are non-gravitational waves?
context: In physics, Whitehead's thought has had some influence. He articulated a view that might perhaps be regarded as dual to Einstein's general relativity, see Whitehead's theory of gravitation. It has been severely criticized. Yutaka Tanaka, who suggests that the gravitational constant disagrees with experimental findings, proposes that Einstein's work does not actually refute Whitehead's formulation. Whitehead's view has now been rendered obsolete, with the discovery of gravitational waves. They are phenonena observed locally that largely violate the kind of local flatness of space that Whitehead assumes. Consequently, Whitehead's cosmology must be regarded as a local approximation, and his assumption of a uniform spatio-temporal geometry, Minkowskian in particular, as an often-locally-adequate approximation. An exact replacement of Whitehead's cosmology would need to admit a Riemannian geometry. Also, although Whitehead himself gave only secondary consideration to quantum theory, his metaphysics of processes has proved attractive to some physicists in that field. Henry Stapp and David Bohm are among those whose work has been influenced by Whitehead.

qas: question: What was the first book on environmental ethics by an individual author?
answers: text: Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology

question: On which economics book did Cobb collaborate with Herman Daly?
answers: text: For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future

question: What award did Cobb and Daly receive for the book?
answers: text: Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order

question: What other economics book did Cobb go on to author?
answers: text: Sustaining the Common Good: A Christian Perspective on the Global Economy

question: What was the goal of Cobb's second book on economics?
answers: text: to challenge "economists' zealous faith in the great god of growth."

question: What was the last book on environmental ethics by an individual author?

question: On which economics book did Cobb kick out Herman Daly?

question:  What award did Cobb and Daly lose for the book?

question:  What other science book did Cobb go on to author?
context: This work has been pioneered by John B. Cobb, Jr., whose book Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology (1971) was the first single-authored book in environmental ethics. Cobb also co-authored a book with economist Herman Daly entitled For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future (1989), which applied Whitehead's thought to economics, and received the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Cobb followed this with a second book, Sustaining the Common Good: A Christian Perspective on the Global Economy (1994), which aimed to challenge "economists' zealous faith in the great god of growth."

qas: question: Who established the FEELS model in China?
answers: text: Xie Bangxiu

question: What does "FEELS" stand for?
answers: text: Flexible-goals, Engaged-learner, Embodied-knowledge, Learning-through-interactions, and Supportive-teacher

question: What is the purpose of the FEELS model?
answers: text: It is used for understanding and evaluating educational curriculum under the assumption that the purpose of education is to "help a person become whole."

question: What entities are working together to promote the FEELS model?
answers: text: Chinese government organizations and the Institute for the Postmodern Development of China

question: Who established the HEELS model in China?

question:  What does "HEELS" stand for?

question:  What entities are working together to promote the HEELS model?
context: Another model is the FEELS model developed by Xie Bangxiu and deployed successfully in China. "FEELS" stands for five things in curriculum and education: Flexible-goals, Engaged-learner, Embodied-knowledge, Learning-through-interactions, and Supportive-teacher. It is used for understanding and evaluating educational curriculum under the assumption that the purpose of education is to "help a person become whole." This work is in part the product of cooperation between Chinese government organizations and the Institute for the Postmodern Development of China.

qas: question: What business fields has Whitehead influenced?
answers: text: philosophy of business administration and organizational theory

question: What prominent business professor has been heavily influenced by Whitehead?
answers: text: Mark Dibben

question: What does Dibben call his philosophy on management and business administration?
answers: text: "applied process thought"

question: According to Dibben, what are the benefits of applying process metaphysics to examining management and business administration as a component of social science?
answers: text: this allows "a comprehensive exploration of life as perpetually active experiencing, as opposed to occasional – and thoroughly passive – happening."

question: In what fields has Dibben published two books and other papers?
answers: text: philosophy of management and business ethics

question: What business fields has Whitehead not influenced?

question: What prominent business professor has not been heavily influenced by Whitehead?

question: What does Dibben call his philosophy on science and math administration?
context: Whitehead has had some influence on philosophy of business administration and organizational theory. This has led in part to a focus on identifying and investigating the effect of temporal events (as opposed to static things) within organizations through an “organization studies” discourse that accommodates a variety of 'weak' and 'strong' process perspectives from a number of philosophers. One of the leading figures having an explicitly Whiteheadian and panexperientialist stance towards management is Mark Dibben, who works in what he calls "applied process thought" to articulate a philosophy of management and business administration as part of a wider examination of the social sciences through the lens of process metaphysics. For Dibben, this allows "a comprehensive exploration of life as perpetually active experiencing, as opposed to occasional – and thoroughly passive – happening." Dibben has published two books on applied process thought, Applied Process Thought I: Initial Explorations in Theory and Research (2008), and Applied Process Thought II: Following a Trail Ablaze (2009), as well as other papers in this vein in the fields of philosophy of management and business ethics.

qas: question: What is Mary Parker Follett known for?
answers: text: pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior

question: What do Margaret Stout and Carrie M. Staton view as commonalities between Whitehead and Follett?
answers: text: ontology that "understands becoming as a relational process; difference as being related, yet unique; and the purpose of becoming as harmonizing difference."

question: What book did Stout and Jeanine M. Love author that further examines the on between Whitehead and Follett?
answers: text: Integrative Process: Follettian Thinking from Ontology to Administration

question: What is Mary Parker Follett not known for?

question:  What do Margaret Stout and Carrie M. Staton view as differences between Whitehead and Follett?

question: What book did Stout and Jeanine M. Love author that does not examine between Whitehead and Follett?
context: Margaret Stout and Carrie M. Staton have also written recently on the mutual influence of Whitehead and Mary Parker Follett, a pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior. Stout and Staton see both Whitehead and Follett as sharing an ontology that "understands becoming as a relational process; difference as being related, yet unique; and the purpose of becoming as harmonizing difference." This connection is further analyzed by Stout and Jeannine M. Love in Integrative Process: Follettian Thinking from Ontology to Administration