/lit/ - Literature

>How, then, does Whitehead go about building his concepts? In Process and Reality, he famously likens the “true method of discovery” in philosophy to “the flight of an aeroplane”: “It starts from the ground of particular observation; it makes a flight in the thin air of imaginative generalization; and it again lands for renewed observation rendered acute by rational interpretation.” This approach stands in stark opposition to the techniques of introspection, positivistic observation, or any methodology that asks us to put aside theory or abstraction and see the world directly. For as Whitehead remarks, “we habitually observe by the method of difference”; that is, we notice what is not always there and base our observations on an unobserved yet operative set of selections. Metaphysics breaks this habit through “the method of imaginative rationalization” whereby “thought supplies the differences which direct observation lacks” and so enables “factors which are constantly present” to “yet be observed.” Rather than eliminate abstractions in order to attain direct access to the world, Whitehead contributes new concepts to draw our attention to what is exemplified in all experiences. The notions that Whitehead invents are therefore general notions—which is to say they are generic. They do not derive their authority from privileged cases—such as scientific observation or subjective experience—but are inclusive to the point that “we can never catch the actual world taking a holiday from their sway.”

>How, then, does Whitehead go about building his concepts? In Process and Reality, he famously likens the “true method of discovery” in philosophy to “the flight of an aeroplane”: “It starts from the ground of particular observation; it makes a flight in the thin air of imaginative generalization; and it again lands for renewed observation rendered acute by rational interpretation.” This approach stands in stark opposition to the techniques of introspection, positivistic observation, or any methodology that asks us to put aside theory or abstraction and see the world directly. For as Whitehead remarks, “we habitually observe by the method of difference”; that is, we notice what is not always there and base our observations on an unobserved yet operative set of selections. Metaphysics breaks this
habit through “the method of imaginative rationalization” whereby “thought supplies the differences which direct observation lacks” and so enables “factors which are constantly present” to “yet be observed.” Rather than eliminate abstractions in order to attain direct access to the world, Whitehead contributes new concepts to draw our attention to what is exemplified in all experiences. The notions that Whitehead invents are therefore general notions—which is to say they are generic. They do not derive their authority from privileged cases—such as scientific observation or subjective experience—but are inclusive to the point that “we can never catch the actual world taking a holiday from their sway.”