Alfred North Whitehead

Alfred North Whitehead, OM (February 15 1861, Ramsgate, Kent, UK – December 30 1947, Cambridge, MA) was a British-American philosopher, physicist and mathematician who worked in logic, mathematics, philosophy of science and metaphysics. His best known work in mathematics is the Principia Mathematica which he wrote with Bertrand Russell.

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OM - February 15 - 1861 - Ramsgate - Kent - UK - December 30 - 1947 - Cambridge, MA - Philosopher - Physicist - Mathematician - Logic - Mathematics - Philosophy of science - Metaphysics - Principia Mathematica - Bertrand Russell

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Whitehead did most of his work in mathematics while at Cambridge (UK) from 1884 to 1910. The next phase of his career, at London (University College London and Imperial College London) from 1910 to 1924, dealt with philosophies of science and education. In 1924 he moved to Harvard University for the last phase. While there, Whitehead is perhaps most well known for conceiving process philosophy. He was invited to give the Gifford Lectures for 1927 at the University of Edinburgh, which resulted in the formidable but respected book Process and Reality. Process philosophy was later developed into process theology by theologian/philosophers Charles Hartshorne, John B Cobb, Jr, and David Ray Griffin. Process theology is a way of understanding God and the universe found to be fruitful by some in Christian and Jewish faiths. It has been found compatible by others as well. Whitehead's rejection of mind-body dualism is similar to elements in oriental faith traditions such as Buddhism.

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Cambridge - UK - 1884 - 1910 - University College London - Imperial College London - 1924 - Harvard University - Process philosophy - Gifford Lectures - 1927 - University of Edinburgh - Process and Reality - Process theology - Charles Hartshorne - John B Cobb, Jr - David Ray Griffin - God - Universe - Mind-body dualism - Buddhism

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In physics his best known work was a theory of gravity that competed with Einstein's general relativity for many decades. Whitehead's theory received less attention than Einstein's, and was generally discredited by 1972 with a comparison of experimental and predicted variability of the gravitational constant G. See A Comparison with Einstein's Theory, or Clifford Will's book, Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics, Cambridge University Press 1993 (ISBN 0521439736 ).

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Physics - Gravity - Einstein - General relativity - 1972 - G

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Whitehead's political views were, roughly, libertarian without the label. He wrote: "Now the intercourse between individuals and between social groups takes one of two forms, force or persuasion. Commerce is the great example of intercourse by way of persuasion. War, slavery, and governmental compulsion exemplify the reign of force."

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Libertarian - Commerce - War - Slavery

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