Here is the fifth chapter of Taking Heart and Making Sense.
If you’re new here, you might like to read an intro article about the book. I also recommend listening to the book’s Introduction first. For new listeners, this chapter can mostly stand alone, but goes well with Chapter Four.
My aim in this chapter is to to present an introduction to process philosophy that is fairly easy to understand. It is meant as a very general introduction to a process approach. Dealing with metaphysics, it follows on from the suggestion in the previous chapter that our underlying worldview (materialism, or that everything is basically physical matter), has reached its limit. Moreover, we need something other than a straightforward shift to the opposite view (idealism, or that everything is basically mind or consciousness). Process philosophy offers a third possibility.
My book is more of an application of a process approach than a work of process philosophy, so in terms of metaphysics, I offer a fairly simple set of ideas. Even so, altering our worldview to understand phenomena primarily in terms of processes rather than things is a significant imaginative shift. That significance is partly because, as I see it, the move to a process approach involves a change in style of thinking as well as in content. I think this fundamentally different understanding invites a new way of thinking as much as a shift in content.
So what do I mean by that? Well, when you separate out a process in time (to observe it or speak about it), this needs to occur with the understanding that the process you observe always occurs in relationship to other processes (or to put it more clearly, in relation). This point makes it very clear that every observation or statement that we make involves a selection from a reality that is whole, but that we can’t know in its entirety or all at once. You can’t simultaneously observe a process and grasp its relation to everything else. Every observation is a perspective and relationships are everywhere! But, importantly, this doesn’t mean that we give up on the notion of truth or reality, just that we are aware that our knowledge involves us and is necessarily partial.
If that sounds like a puzzle, that’s because it kind of is! It’s a paradox, but a useful one. It makes room for astute observations of a very stable, physical world, as well as for reflecting on our ongoing experience. It also allows humility and mystery to coexist with rigorous scientific engagement. If all this sounds obscure, please don’t worry, its application in following chapters should be easier to understand!
For those who are familiar with process philosophy or who have studied or heard of Alfred North Whitehead (who is usually seen as the seminal process philosopher) I should note that my attempt here at a simple process metaphysics is not based on his work. This is mainly because I was working through an applied problem and Whitehead’s work requires quite some dedication to understand, not least apply! At the time, I also wanted to avoid the deep consideration of divinity in reality; I was looking for a very neutral base with which to reflect on science and experience, and work towards a theory of feeling. This is also one of the reasons that I opted for the term speculative naturalism rather than process philosophy. Perhaps I would do this differently now as so many contemporary thinkers are reflecting on and developing Whitehead’s ideas, and I feel much more interested in considerations of divinity or at least, sacredness. So as with everything, all the time, I’ve changed since I wrote this! But still, I stand by it as an introduction to concepts that can otherwise be quite difficult.
Quick overview:
This chapter introduces the method of speculative philosophy and explains the notion of basic assumptions as foundational metaphors, making a link to embodied cognition. I present a general introduction to the themes of process philosophy and its focus on change and activity.
I then suggest change as a basic category. Change is cause of itself and inherently creative. It is unknowable as a whole but encountered through differentiation, a paradox that requires both a coming into being and our ability to notice. We encounter change through the dynamic relatedness (or dialetic) of process and relation. Process is an inward-facing perspective made possible by its relation to everything else. Perspective-taking is a fundamental feature of new processes.
Following the work of Arran Gare, I suggest that speculative naturalism might be a useful name for a tradition that makes consciousness a central concern but sees it as a natural phenomenon. Nature is our starting point for investigation. This tradition can include process metaphysics, and philosophical and theoretical biology, while continuing the humanistic concerns of the Renaissance.
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