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Symbolism, its Meaning and Effect: Barbour-Page Lectures, University of Virginia 1927
Facsimile of the ed.: New York, Macmillan, 1927.
Whitehead's response to the epistemological challenges of Hume and Kant in its most vivid and direct form.
Whitehead's response to the epistemological challenges of Hume and Kant in its most vivid and direct form.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
88 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1927
22 people are currently reading
321 people want to read
About the author
Alfred North Whitehead
101 books426 followersAlfred North Whitehead, OM FRS (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found application to a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology, among other areas.
In his early career Whitehead wrote primarily on mathematics, logic, and physics. His most notable work in these fields is the three-volume Principia Mathematica (1910–13), which he co-wrote with former student Bertrand Russell. Principia Mathematica is considered one of the twentieth century's most important works in mathematical logic, and placed 23rd in a list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the twentieth century by Modern Library.
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 was fundamentally constructed by events rather than substances, and that these events cannot be defined apart from their relations to other events, thus rejecting the theory of independently existing substances. Today Whitehead's philosophical works – particularly Process and Reality – are regarded as the foundational texts of process philosophy.
Whitehead's process philosophy argues that "there is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have consequences for the world around us." For this reason, one of the most promising applications of Whitehead's thought in recent years has been in the area of ecological civilization and environmental ethics pioneered by John B. Cobb, Jr.
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. However, it was not until the 1970s and 1980s that Whitehead's thought drew much attention outside of a small group of American philosophers and theologians, and even today he is not considered especially influential outside of relatively specialized circles.
In recent years, Whiteheadian thought has become a stimulating influence in scientific research.
In physics particularly, Whitehead's thought has been influential, articulating a rival doctrine to Albert Einstein's general relativity. Whitehead's theory of gravitation continues to be controversial. Even Yutaka Tanaka, who suggests that the gravitational constant disagrees with experimental findings, admits that Einstein's work does not actually refute Whitehead's formulation. Also, although Whitehead himself gave only secondary consideration to quantum theory, his metaphysics of events has proved attractive to physicists in that field. Henry Stapp and David Bohm are among those whose work has been influenced by Whitehead.
Whitehead is widely known for his influence in education theory. His philosophy inspired the formation of the Association for Process Philosophy of Education (APPE), which published eleven volumes of a journal titled Process Papers on process philosophy and education from 1996 to 2008. Whitehead's theories on education also led to the formation of new modes of learning and new models of teaching.
In his early career Whitehead wrote primarily on mathematics, logic, and physics. His most notable work in these fields is the three-volume Principia Mathematica (1910–13), which he co-wrote with former student Bertrand Russell. Principia Mathematica is considered one of the twentieth century's most important works in mathematical logic, and placed 23rd in a list of the top 100 English-language nonfiction books of the twentieth century by Modern Library.
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 was fundamentally constructed by events rather than substances, and that these events cannot be defined apart from their relations to other events, thus rejecting the theory of independently existing substances. Today Whitehead's philosophical works – particularly Process and Reality – are regarded as the foundational texts of process philosophy.
Whitehead's process philosophy argues that "there is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have consequences for the world around us." For this reason, one of the most promising applications of Whitehead's thought in recent years has been in the area of ecological civilization and environmental ethics pioneered by John B. Cobb, Jr.
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. However, it was not until the 1970s and 1980s that Whitehead's thought drew much attention outside of a small group of American philosophers and theologians, and even today he is not considered especially influential outside of relatively specialized circles.
In recent years, Whiteheadian thought has become a stimulating influence in scientific research.
In physics particularly, Whitehead's thought has been influential, articulating a rival doctrine to Albert Einstein's general relativity. Whitehead's theory of gravitation continues to be controversial. Even Yutaka Tanaka, who suggests that the gravitational constant disagrees with experimental findings, admits that Einstein's work does not actually refute Whitehead's formulation. Also, although Whitehead himself gave only secondary consideration to quantum theory, his metaphysics of events has proved attractive to physicists in that field. Henry Stapp and David Bohm are among those whose work has been influenced by Whitehead.
Whitehead is widely known for his influence in education theory. His philosophy inspired the formation of the Association for Process Philosophy of Education (APPE), which published eleven volumes of a journal titled Process Papers on process philosophy and education from 1996 to 2008. Whitehead's theories on education also led to the formation of new modes of learning and new models of teaching.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 15, 2024
The symbolism in this work responds to Hume and Kant's epistemological challenges. Initially presented in lectures, this work, besides being a gateway to Whitehead's theory of perception, provides us with the British philosopher's vision of the role of symbols in human culture and the organization of society.
August 24, 2011
Alfred North whitehead is one of my intellectual heros. This book was interesting, but I was hoping for more of Alfred the mathematician to come out. Instead, he wrote like a true philosopher: eloquent, but opaque. Many of his ideas could have benefited from clarification and more examples. Nevertheless, I think his ideas about symbolism and the nature of experience were very illuminating. I definitely found myself sympathizing with his analysis.
July 22, 2016
We are in 1927, Whitehead is challenging Hume (1776) and Kant (1804) revisiting fundamental concepts around their reasoning frameworks. This is certainly an enormous intellectual effort. How he managed to do this? Being quite clever but also living and UNDERSTANDING the scientific revolution brought by the Relativity Theory (1916). This essay is the effect of his fresh reasoning and he dared to update the very foundations of western philosophy.
November 11, 2017
Well, this went over my head. Encourages me to explore his writings further though.
Read
January 23, 2022Portions of this book were too complicated for me. Thankfully, there were enough sentences that were meaningful, and sometimes lovely, in an academic way, that I didn't finish the book feeling either confused or that I had wasted my time.
Underlined:
"In the initial stages of mental progress, error in symbolic reference is the discipline which promotes imaginative freedom."
"Synthesis and analysis require each other."
"We unhesitatingly argue backwards to the inference, that the complete analysis of the past must disclose in it those factors which provide the conditions for the present."
"Those societies which cannot combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay either from anarchy, or from the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows."
Underlined:
"In the initial stages of mental progress, error in symbolic reference is the discipline which promotes imaginative freedom."
"Synthesis and analysis require each other."
"We unhesitatingly argue backwards to the inference, that the complete analysis of the past must disclose in it those factors which provide the conditions for the present."
"Those societies which cannot combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay either from anarchy, or from the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2021
(read in Bang Nam Chuet, Thailand)
March 28, 2024
A palavra é um símbolo, e seu significado é constituído pelas idéias, imagens e emoções que ela suscita na mente do ouvinte.
Você nunca poderá ignorar o significado da linguagem e confiar na mera sintaxe para ajudá- lo. De qualquer modo, a linguagem e a álgebra parecem exemplificar tipos mais fundamentais de simbolismo do que o fazem as catedrais da Europa medieval.
O século XIX exagerou o poder do método histórico, e assumiu, naturalmente, que cada característica deveria ser estudada apenas em seu estágio embrionário. Assim, por exemplo, o 'Amor' foi estudado entre os selvagens e, mais recentemente, entre os retardados.
simbolismo é muito falível, no sentido de que ele pode induzir a ações, sentimentos, emoções e crenças acerca de coisas que são meras noções, sem que haja aquela exemplificação no mundo que o simbolismo nos leva a pressupor.
O oleiro, e não o vaso, é o responsável pela forma do vaso.
o erro é principalmente o produto da referência simbólica, e não da análise conceitual.
O imediatismo presentacional é nossa percepção imediata do mundo externo contemporâneo, que surge como um elemento constitutivo de nossa própria experiência.
Síntese e análise requerem uma à outra. Tal concepção é paradoxal se você persistir em pensar o mundo atual como um conjunto de substâncias atuais passivas com seus atributos ou qualidades particulares.
O "homem em toda sua história de vida" é uma abstração em comparação com o "homem em um desses momentos".
O tempo concreto é a conformação de estado a estado, do posterior ao anterior; e a sucessão pura é uma abstração da relação irreversível do passado estabelecido com o presente derivado.
Nossa consciência do mundo percebido gera- nos um sistema objetivo, que é uma fusão de meros dados e dos modos de pensar sobre esses dados.
Não devemos dirigir a atenção para as inferências que partem do ontem ao hoje, ou mesmo as que partem de cinco minutos atrás ao presente imediato. Devemos considerar o presente imediato em sua relação com o passado imediato.
O como de nossa experiência presente deve estar de acordo com o quê de passado que há em nós.
A inteligência prática, o desejo teórico de trespassar até o fato último e os impulsos críticos irônicos contribuíram com os principais motivos para a repulsão do simbolismo. Os homens de cabeça dura querem fatos e não símbolos.
O objetivo do simbolismo é a valorização da importância do que é simbolizado.
Comunidades com unidade geográfica constituem o principal tipo de comunidades que encontramos no mundo.
Além de sua indicação clara de significado, as palavras e frases trazem consigo uma sugestividade envolvente e uma eficácia emocional.
em um exército, há um conjunto de símbolos para produzir obediência automática em um conjunto limitado de circunstâncias, e há outro conjunto de símbolos para produzir um sentido geral da importância dos deveres desempenhados.
metade da inspiração de nossos heróis se perde quando esquecemos que eles foram seres humanos.
a humanidade, através de seu elaborado sistema de transferência simbólica, pode alcançar milagres de sensibilidade em relação a um ambiente distante, e a um futuro problemático. Contudo, ela paga o preço, em razão do fato perigoso de que cada transferência simbólica pode envolver uma imputação arbitrária de características inapropriadas.
Os homens livres obedecem às regras que eles mesmos fizeram. Descobrir-se-á que tais regras em geral se impõem à conduta da sociedade, em referência a um simbolismo que é tomado como referência aos propósitos últimos para os quais a sociedade existe.
Você nunca poderá ignorar o significado da linguagem e confiar na mera sintaxe para ajudá- lo. De qualquer modo, a linguagem e a álgebra parecem exemplificar tipos mais fundamentais de simbolismo do que o fazem as catedrais da Europa medieval.
O século XIX exagerou o poder do método histórico, e assumiu, naturalmente, que cada característica deveria ser estudada apenas em seu estágio embrionário. Assim, por exemplo, o 'Amor' foi estudado entre os selvagens e, mais recentemente, entre os retardados.
simbolismo é muito falível, no sentido de que ele pode induzir a ações, sentimentos, emoções e crenças acerca de coisas que são meras noções, sem que haja aquela exemplificação no mundo que o simbolismo nos leva a pressupor.
O oleiro, e não o vaso, é o responsável pela forma do vaso.
o erro é principalmente o produto da referência simbólica, e não da análise conceitual.
O imediatismo presentacional é nossa percepção imediata do mundo externo contemporâneo, que surge como um elemento constitutivo de nossa própria experiência.
Síntese e análise requerem uma à outra. Tal concepção é paradoxal se você persistir em pensar o mundo atual como um conjunto de substâncias atuais passivas com seus atributos ou qualidades particulares.
O "homem em toda sua história de vida" é uma abstração em comparação com o "homem em um desses momentos".
O tempo concreto é a conformação de estado a estado, do posterior ao anterior; e a sucessão pura é uma abstração da relação irreversível do passado estabelecido com o presente derivado.
Nossa consciência do mundo percebido gera- nos um sistema objetivo, que é uma fusão de meros dados e dos modos de pensar sobre esses dados.
Não devemos dirigir a atenção para as inferências que partem do ontem ao hoje, ou mesmo as que partem de cinco minutos atrás ao presente imediato. Devemos considerar o presente imediato em sua relação com o passado imediato.
O como de nossa experiência presente deve estar de acordo com o quê de passado que há em nós.
A inteligência prática, o desejo teórico de trespassar até o fato último e os impulsos críticos irônicos contribuíram com os principais motivos para a repulsão do simbolismo. Os homens de cabeça dura querem fatos e não símbolos.
O objetivo do simbolismo é a valorização da importância do que é simbolizado.
Comunidades com unidade geográfica constituem o principal tipo de comunidades que encontramos no mundo.
Além de sua indicação clara de significado, as palavras e frases trazem consigo uma sugestividade envolvente e uma eficácia emocional.
em um exército, há um conjunto de símbolos para produzir obediência automática em um conjunto limitado de circunstâncias, e há outro conjunto de símbolos para produzir um sentido geral da importância dos deveres desempenhados.
metade da inspiração de nossos heróis se perde quando esquecemos que eles foram seres humanos.
a humanidade, através de seu elaborado sistema de transferência simbólica, pode alcançar milagres de sensibilidade em relação a um ambiente distante, e a um futuro problemático. Contudo, ela paga o preço, em razão do fato perigoso de que cada transferência simbólica pode envolver uma imputação arbitrária de características inapropriadas.
Os homens livres obedecem às regras que eles mesmos fizeram. Descobrir-se-á que tais regras em geral se impõem à conduta da sociedade, em referência a um simbolismo que é tomado como referência aos propósitos últimos para os quais a sociedade existe.
June 26, 2025
This book is primarily a summary and extension of a particular development in Process and Reality. It provides three chapters that develop his relation of presentational immediacy via a critique of Hume and causal efficacy by way of a critique of Kant. He argues that these two developments are provided by two sorts of information that touch each other, but are not the same, in that the first results from the empirical data that are right in front of us while the second results from his speculative philosophy. He reverses the usual tendency of us to rationalize causality of sense data by saying the sense data are merely given, but it is the phenomenology of an organism in time which gathers causal efficacy through a cognitive association of the present moment connecting itself to the immediate past. It is through an analysis of the individuation of the objects in causal efficacy that gives rise to presentational immediacy, not the other way around. It is this process that enables us to move from causality to intuition-based knowledge that he attributes to Henri Bergson's philosophy of time in P&R.
This little book is particularly valuable for Linguists, Semioticians, Philosophers of Science, and Information scholars who might seek a pre-cybernetic form of hylomorphic information which remains underappreciated today in media scholarship and science and technology studies.
This little book is particularly valuable for Linguists, Semioticians, Philosophers of Science, and Information scholars who might seek a pre-cybernetic form of hylomorphic information which remains underappreciated today in media scholarship and science and technology studies.
February 1, 2023
This slim volume sat on my bookshelf for years, and I finally read it just now. I found it extremely obscure and couldn't understand his arguments or the way they were connected. I can't imagine how the people who attended these lectures nearly a century ago could have made head or tail of it. Having spent my professional life using language, I have decided to look into some books related to the philosophy of language, which is why I persisted in reading Whitehead and annotating it as I read.
His final words are inspiring, though I couldn't grasp their connection to what preceded them:
"It is the first step in sociological wisdom, to recognize that the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur. ... The art of free society consists first in the maintenance of the symbolic code; and secondly in fearlessness of revision, to secure that the code serves those purposes which satisfy an enlightened reason. Those societies which cannot combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay either from anarchy, or form the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows."
His final words are inspiring, though I couldn't grasp their connection to what preceded them:
"It is the first step in sociological wisdom, to recognize that the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur. ... The art of free society consists first in the maintenance of the symbolic code; and secondly in fearlessness of revision, to secure that the code serves those purposes which satisfy an enlightened reason. Those societies which cannot combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay either from anarchy, or form the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows."
December 21, 2024
Whitehead offers a prescient warning for our age of AI:
"The art of free society consists first in the maintenance of the symbolic code; and secondly in fearlessness of revision, to secure that the code serves those purposes which satisfy an enlightened reason. Those societies which cannot combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay either from anarchy, or from the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows."
Data for the sake of data is a society stifled or as I have been arguing, flattened, by useless shadows.
To effectively move beyond this flattening, we must prioritize investments in the arts and human creativity, which sustain the symbolic frameworks essential for a meaningful society.
"The art of free society consists first in the maintenance of the symbolic code; and secondly in fearlessness of revision, to secure that the code serves those purposes which satisfy an enlightened reason. Those societies which cannot combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay either from anarchy, or from the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows."
Data for the sake of data is a society stifled or as I have been arguing, flattened, by useless shadows.
To effectively move beyond this flattening, we must prioritize investments in the arts and human creativity, which sustain the symbolic frameworks essential for a meaningful society.
October 13, 2024
DOES MANKIND HAVE TO FIND A “SYMBOL” TO EXPRESS ITSELF?
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) was an English mathematician [he is credited as co-writer with Bertrand Russell of 'Principia Mathematica'] and philosopher, best known for developing Process Philosophy. He wrote many other books such as 'Process and Reality,' 'Modes of Thought,' 'Religion in the Making,' etc.
He begins this 1927 book with the statement, “The slightest survey of different epochs of civilization discloses great differences in their attitude towards symbolism. For example, during the medieval period in Europe symbolism seemed to dominate men’s imaginations… With the Reformation a reaction set in. Men tried to dispense with symbols… But such symbolism is on the fringe of life. It has an unessential element in its constitution. The very fact that it can be acquired in one epoch and discarded in another epoch testifies to its superficial nature.” (Pg. 1)
He outlines, “I shall develop the thesis that symbolism is an essential factor in the way we function as the result of our direct knowledge… I shall also endeavor to illustrate the doctrine that all human symbolism, however superficial it may seem, is ultimately to be reduced to trains of this fundamental symbolic reference, trains which finally connect percepts in alternative modes of direct recognition.” (Pg. 6-7)
He explains, “It is the thesis of this work that human symbolism has its origins in the symbolic interplay between two distinct modes of direct perception of the external world. There are, in this way, two sources of information about the external world, closely connected but distinct.” (Pg. 30) He continues, “I have termed one perceptive mode ‘Presentational Immediacy,’ and the other mode ‘Causal Efficacy.’” (Pg. 31)
He states, “One part of our experience is handy, and definite in our consciousness; also it is easy to reproduce at will. The other type of experience, however insistent, is vague, haunting, unmanageable. The former type, for all its decorative sense-experience, is barren. It displays a world concealed under an adventitious show, a show of our own bodily production. The latter type is heavy with the contact of the things gone by, which lay their grip on our immediate selves. This latter type, the mode of causal efficacy, is the experience dominating the primitive living organisms, which have a sense for the fate from which they have emerged, and for the fate towards which they go… It is a heavy, primitive experience. The former type, the presentational immediacy, is the superficial product of complexity, of subtlety…” (Pg. 43-44)
He suggests, “We enjoy the symbol, but we also penetrate to the meaning. The symbols do not create their meaning: the meaning, in the form of actual effective beings reacting upon us, exists for us in its own right. But the symbols discover this meaning for us. They discover it because, in the long course of adaptations of living organisms to their environment, nature taught their use. It developed us to that our projected sensations indicate in general those regions which are the seat of important organisms.” (Pg. 57)
He observes, “Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life. Language itself is a symbolism… however you reduce the functions of your government to their utmost simplicity, yet symbolism remains… Just as the feudal doctrine of a subordination of classes, reaching up to the ultimate overlord, requires its symbolism; so does the doctrine of human equality obtain its symbolism. Mankind, it seems, has to find a symbol in order to express itself. Indeed, ‘expression’ is ‘symbolism.’” (Pg. 61-62)
Later, he summarizes, “My main thesis is that a social system is kept together by the blind force of instinctive actions, and of instinctive emotions clustered around habits and prejudices. It is therefore not true that any advance in the scale of culture inevitably tends to the preservation of society… But the fact that reason too often fails does not give fair ground for the hysterical conclusion that it never succeeds. Reason can be compared to the force of gravitation, the weakest of all natural forces, but in the end the creator of suns and of stellar systems.” (Pg. 68-70)
He concludes, “The doctrine of symbolism developed in these lectures enables us to distinguish between pure instinctive action, reflex action, and symbolically conditioned action. Pure instinctive action is that functioning of an organism which is wholly analyzable in terms of those conditions laid upon its development by the settled facts of its external environment, conditions describable without any reference to its perceptive mode of presentational immediacy. This pure instinct is the response of any organism to pure causal efficacy.” (Pg. 78)
He continues, “Symbolically conditioned action is action which is thus conditioned by the analysis of the perceptive mode of causal efficacy effected by symbolic transference from the perceptive mode of presentational immediacy… Reflex action is that organic functioning which is wholly dependent on sense-presentation, unaccompanied by any analysis of causal efficacy via symbolic reference. The conscious analysis of perception is primarily concerned with the analysis of the symbolic relationship between the two perceptive modes. Thus reflex action is hindered by thought, which inevitably promotes the prominence of symbolic reference.” (Pg. 80-81)
While this is probably not one of Whitehead’s “major works,” it will be of interest to anyone studying his philosophy.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) was an English mathematician [he is credited as co-writer with Bertrand Russell of 'Principia Mathematica'] and philosopher, best known for developing Process Philosophy. He wrote many other books such as 'Process and Reality,' 'Modes of Thought,' 'Religion in the Making,' etc.
He begins this 1927 book with the statement, “The slightest survey of different epochs of civilization discloses great differences in their attitude towards symbolism. For example, during the medieval period in Europe symbolism seemed to dominate men’s imaginations… With the Reformation a reaction set in. Men tried to dispense with symbols… But such symbolism is on the fringe of life. It has an unessential element in its constitution. The very fact that it can be acquired in one epoch and discarded in another epoch testifies to its superficial nature.” (Pg. 1)
He outlines, “I shall develop the thesis that symbolism is an essential factor in the way we function as the result of our direct knowledge… I shall also endeavor to illustrate the doctrine that all human symbolism, however superficial it may seem, is ultimately to be reduced to trains of this fundamental symbolic reference, trains which finally connect percepts in alternative modes of direct recognition.” (Pg. 6-7)
He explains, “It is the thesis of this work that human symbolism has its origins in the symbolic interplay between two distinct modes of direct perception of the external world. There are, in this way, two sources of information about the external world, closely connected but distinct.” (Pg. 30) He continues, “I have termed one perceptive mode ‘Presentational Immediacy,’ and the other mode ‘Causal Efficacy.’” (Pg. 31)
He states, “One part of our experience is handy, and definite in our consciousness; also it is easy to reproduce at will. The other type of experience, however insistent, is vague, haunting, unmanageable. The former type, for all its decorative sense-experience, is barren. It displays a world concealed under an adventitious show, a show of our own bodily production. The latter type is heavy with the contact of the things gone by, which lay their grip on our immediate selves. This latter type, the mode of causal efficacy, is the experience dominating the primitive living organisms, which have a sense for the fate from which they have emerged, and for the fate towards which they go… It is a heavy, primitive experience. The former type, the presentational immediacy, is the superficial product of complexity, of subtlety…” (Pg. 43-44)
He suggests, “We enjoy the symbol, but we also penetrate to the meaning. The symbols do not create their meaning: the meaning, in the form of actual effective beings reacting upon us, exists for us in its own right. But the symbols discover this meaning for us. They discover it because, in the long course of adaptations of living organisms to their environment, nature taught their use. It developed us to that our projected sensations indicate in general those regions which are the seat of important organisms.” (Pg. 57)
He observes, “Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life. Language itself is a symbolism… however you reduce the functions of your government to their utmost simplicity, yet symbolism remains… Just as the feudal doctrine of a subordination of classes, reaching up to the ultimate overlord, requires its symbolism; so does the doctrine of human equality obtain its symbolism. Mankind, it seems, has to find a symbol in order to express itself. Indeed, ‘expression’ is ‘symbolism.’” (Pg. 61-62)
Later, he summarizes, “My main thesis is that a social system is kept together by the blind force of instinctive actions, and of instinctive emotions clustered around habits and prejudices. It is therefore not true that any advance in the scale of culture inevitably tends to the preservation of society… But the fact that reason too often fails does not give fair ground for the hysterical conclusion that it never succeeds. Reason can be compared to the force of gravitation, the weakest of all natural forces, but in the end the creator of suns and of stellar systems.” (Pg. 68-70)
He concludes, “The doctrine of symbolism developed in these lectures enables us to distinguish between pure instinctive action, reflex action, and symbolically conditioned action. Pure instinctive action is that functioning of an organism which is wholly analyzable in terms of those conditions laid upon its development by the settled facts of its external environment, conditions describable without any reference to its perceptive mode of presentational immediacy. This pure instinct is the response of any organism to pure causal efficacy.” (Pg. 78)
He continues, “Symbolically conditioned action is action which is thus conditioned by the analysis of the perceptive mode of causal efficacy effected by symbolic transference from the perceptive mode of presentational immediacy… Reflex action is that organic functioning which is wholly dependent on sense-presentation, unaccompanied by any analysis of causal efficacy via symbolic reference. The conscious analysis of perception is primarily concerned with the analysis of the symbolic relationship between the two perceptive modes. Thus reflex action is hindered by thought, which inevitably promotes the prominence of symbolic reference.” (Pg. 80-81)
While this is probably not one of Whitehead’s “major works,” it will be of interest to anyone studying his philosophy.
March 15, 2023
The meaning of two key elements of this book, Presentational Immediacy and Causal Efficacy, can be compared to the relationships between the army and nation under the civilian control. A modern nation is an interplay of both powers, and we can't really dispense with either of them to sustain ourselves. Also, either of them should be revised by the other one and ourselves, in which the former represents the present situation and the latter represents the past or future. Therefore, it's not solipsism but a kind of the philosophy of connection, which is called "symbolism."
November 28, 2022
Read this one for class because I'm interested in the subject matter. I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but this just didn't do it for me. Others who read it in the class loved it, but it just didn't interest me very much.
March 18, 2024
Process philosophy as applied to the experience of existence. Not my usual cup of tea but you can't complain much when you pay a dollar for a used book.
November 18, 2024
Whitehead si conferma un pensatore oscuro ma illuminante.
Read
February 11, 2017i need to read this book for my research
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2016
Interesting and significant
While not Whitehead's best work, his distinction between two modes of perception is groundbreaking and highly significant for anyone interested in aesthetics, art, and culture.
While not Whitehead's best work, his distinction between two modes of perception is groundbreaking and highly significant for anyone interested in aesthetics, art, and culture.
December 17, 2015
"Universality of truth arises from the universality of relativity, whereby every particular actual thing lays upon the universe the obligation of conforming to it" (p.39).
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