So, though Whitehead does reference historical events to illustrate aspects of his thought, this book is mainly a work of metaphysics.Īnd to me, it's fascinating metaphysics. Adventures of Ideas, despite my opening synopsis, is typically recommended as the most accessible of the 3 books that articulate his system- the other two being Process and Reality and Science and the Modern World. Many of these same people would argue that his system still stands as the best example of that branch of philosophy (he was writing about this stuff in the 1920s-1930s). In case you're not familiar, Alfred North Whitehead is sometimes known as the philosopher who first put forward a coherent, comprehensive metaphysical system that we would now term "process philosophy". I tore into it and didn't stop until I was finished with it. When it turned up last month in our black hole of a garage, I tore back into it, even though Blood Meridian was currently holding my interest, and, oh yeah, I was then living with a one-month old in my house. I had read Part I probably over a year ago, and was all amped to continue, when the book disappeared from the living room coffee table. I tore into it and didn't stop until I For a philosophical treatment of the effect of ideas' on history and culture, this book was a veritable page-turner. moreįor a philosophical treatment of the effect of ideas' on history and culture, this book was a veritable page-turner. You’ll do much better to keep moseying around the discount bookshops of your own neighbourhood, where the buried gems of a lost time can escape the practiced eyes of the price-gouging antiquarians.Īnd old Whitehead, happy mariner of empyrean abstractions, may one day surprise you by his unlikely presence there!. I’ll let abler minds than mine decide that!Īfter that brief panegyric to a now-unremembered man, if you look for Whitehead’s books on Kindle you’ll be disappointed. In it, Whitehead seeks to build a bridge between modern quantum physics and traditional philosophy. There, he ambitiously turned a brand new page in his life, by writing a three-volume metaphysical magnum opus, Process and Reality. In later life, luckily having received an invitation to teach at Princeton from its dean, he left behind the horrors of the blitz in Britain for those sunnier skies.
So absent-minded was the older polymath, in fact, that Russell noticed that at that stressful time he would tip the paper boy as lavishly as Croesus.īut he alway ambled through more mundane matters like a headless chicken, for his mind lived in more empyrean realms.ĭo you know what thick volume graced his bedside table - his bedtime light reading, as Russell put it? The eminently learned and recondite History of the Council of Trent - the dreary proceedings of Counter-Reformation Catholic theologians!īut he was a towering genius. In fact, the immense strain of writing it would nearly destroy Russell’s sanity, the foundation itself proved so unprovable: he even contemplated suicide.īut Whitehead just continued to muddle through it all amiably, patiently, and abstractedly. He never attracted attention to himself.Īt Cambridge, when he and Bertrand Russell - Promethean thinkers, and just as unlucky - thought mankind could finally discover the unshakable foundation of mathematics in their Principia Mathematica, their hope was short-lived. Well, for one thing, his humility was legendary. At Cambridge, when he and Bertrand Russell - Promethean thinkers, and just as unlucky - thought mankind could finally discover the unshakable foundation of mathematics in their Principia Mathema Back at the Edwardian turn of the century, many Cambridge dons considered Alfred North Whitehead’s capacious mind to be one of the most prodigious of the entire younger set. Why’s that? Well, for one thing, his humility was legendary. Back at the Edwardian turn of the century, many Cambridge dons considered Alfred North Whitehead’s capacious mind to be one of the most prodigious of the entire younger set.
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