This book discusses the problems raised by Whitehead's metaphysics of creativity-metaphysics focused on dynamic becoming rather than on static being-and the proposed solutions to those problems. Whitehead adds a new dimension to the issues of traditional metaphysics by taking into account the world view of our civilization and the results of modern science. His all-embracing speculative cosmology provides a synthesis which goes far beyond the details considered in modern analytic philosophy. To him, the principle of novelty is the universal of universals, and in his system of categories, he aims at avoiding the bifurcation of nature into a physical and mental pole.
In West Germany, Friedrich Rapp is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dortmund and Reiner Wiehl is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg.
Preface I. The Philosophical Tradition 1. Whitehead and the Dichotomy of Rationalism and Empiricism Ivor Leclerc2. Whitehead and Berkeley: On the True Nature of Sense Perception Ernest Wolf-Gazo3. Whitehead's Interpretation of Locke in Process and Reality Rainer SpechtII. Metaphysics and Science 4. Creativity and the Passage of Nature Dorothy Emmet5. Whitehead's Concept of Creativity and Modern Science Friedrich Rapp6. Whitehead's Cosmology as Revisable Metaphysics Hans PoserIII. Cosmology and Anthropology 7. What One Thinks: Singular Propositions and the Content of Judgements Wolfgang Künne8. Whitehead's Cosmology of Feeling Between Ontology and Anthropology Reiner Wiehl9. Which Experiences Teach Us to Understand the World? Observations on the Paradigm of Whitehead's CosmologyRobert SpaemannIV. Creativity and Creation 10. Atom, Duration, Form: Difficulties with Process Philosophy Wolfhart Pannenberg11. Creativity as Universal Activity Jan Van der Veken12. Creativity: A New Transcendental? Reto Luzius FetzThe Authors Abbreviations Index of Names Index of Subjects