In this article, we’ll take a very brief look at process philosophy, drawing again from the work of Alfred North Whitehead. Process philosophy is an observation that the universe is in a process of becoming. Parts interact with one another, and out of this interaction events emerge. Process philosophy stands in contrast with the view of the universe, and our lives in which objects are static, and can be fully captured in categorization (Whitehead, 1978).
Every living cell in our body has a degree of autonomy. Each cell works together, producing occasions, which manifest in a level of coordination which allows us to move, breath and generally exist with little to no conscious effort. Sometimes the cellular occasions produce events, which impact upon the future- illness for example. We do not notice the cellular occasions, but we do notice the events they produce.
Whitehead (2016), roughly explained, argued in the following way. Droplets of experience or particles are actual occasions, which we barely notice. They flash in and out of existence, akin to cellular activity. What we do notice are the events they produce. An event is a “nexus of actual occasions interrelated” (ibid). In other words, occasions build up and what emerges are events which we notice. Events emerge from interaction. And an event is constantly open to interpretation, capable of being linked to other events or separated from it, and this redefining may constantly change as other events disclose (ibid).
What this means, is that if we follow a process philosophy, then knowledge is only temporary. As more events disclose, it may influence are defining of other events. For Whitehead, a physicist, this was the nature of the universe. Knowledge will always be implicit and not explicit, because these unseen occasions are interacting to produce events which may cause us to redefine other events (Whitehead, 1978). From this position, it is possible to understand how Whitehead thought that mathematical definitions of the universe should always incorporate novelty. An event could emerge which would undermine a theory, belief, or category. For Whitehead, this was not a problem or conflict, it was merely the universe discloses itself in another way. A sense of novelty would allow emerging events to interact with previous events to produce closer contact with reality, new theory, not explain away events which did not fit current categorizations.
Our lives are full of occasions and events, at a much higher resolution than just the cellular and particle level. A friend may betray us, and we re-examine our relationship, a stressful job we thought we could cope with produces an event which means we can no longer deal with the job. All these events cause us to redefine other events in our lives. It is best to keep an active open mind and appreciate the mystery of life (Varela et al, 2016). This approach allows us to notice occasions more readily before they become events which redefine us in ways which are difficult to comprehend.
Reading
Whitehead, A.F. (1978). Process and reality. New York: The Free Press.
Whitehead, A. F. (2016). The concept of nature. Ozymandias Press.
F. J. Varela, Thompson, E. Rosch, E (2016) The Embodied Mind Cognitive Science and Human Experience. MIT Press.
