Whitehead'S Philosophy: Actual Entities

Philosophy ◽  
1941 ◽  
Vol 16 (63) ◽  
pp. 285-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydney E. Hooper

I have tried to expound Whitehead's doctrine of Creativity and of actual entities. Nothing remains but to give a brief summary of what has been said in the foregoing notes.Creativity is the ultimate activity and principle of novelty in the Universe.The world is said to consist of “actual entities,” not substances. An actual entity is also called an “actual occasion.” It is essentially a genetic process, having two sides, (I) the process of “becoming,” and (2) the outcome of the process named the “satisfaction.” The satisfaction is the fully determined achievement abstracted from the process. On attaining satisfaction the actual entity viewed as a self-creating subject loses its “final” causation, and as a subject perishes, but the “satisfaction” remains as a potential constituent for the emergence of a new actual entity. This is its “efficient” causation. The potentiality of the satisfaction for a new creation is called its “objective immortality”: in this capacity it functions as an “object” for the self-creation of another actual entity.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-66
Author(s):  
Monika Szuba

The essay discusses selected poems from Thomas Hardy's vast body of poetry, focusing on representations of the self and the world. Employing Maurice Merleau-Ponty's concepts such as the body-subject, wild being, flesh, and reversibility, the essay offers an analysis of Hardy's poems in the light of phenomenological philosophy. It argues that far from demonstrating ‘cosmic indifference’, Hardy's poetry offers a sympathetic vision of interrelations governing the universe. The attunement with voices of the Earth foregrounded in the poems enables the self's entanglement in the flesh of the world, a chiasmatic intertwining of beings inserted between the leaves of the world. The relation of the self with the world is established through the act of perception, mainly visual and aural, when the body becomes intertwined with the world, thus resulting in a powerful welding. Such moments of vision are brief and elusive, which enhances a sense of transitoriness, and, yet, they are also timeless as the self becomes immersed in the experience. As time is a recurrent theme in Hardy's poetry, this essay discusses it in the context of dwelling, the provisionality of which is demonstrated in the prevalent sense of temporality, marked by seasons and birdsong, which underline the rhythms of the world.


Dialogue ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 424-441
Author(s):  
Douglas Browning

An adequate theory of the self must provide for the fact of human agency. I would like to show that (1) we can put together a theory of human agency from Whitehead's later writings, but that (2) this theory is not satisfactory. This discussion will be, first, expository and then critical of Whitehead's position. An elaboration of Whitehead's theory has two moments. For Whitehead, all factors of the universe are finally derivative from the ultimately actual things, which he calls actual entities. The fact of agency is no exception. The establishment of such agency is the job of what I shall call Whitehead's microscopic theory. We are interested here, however, in the human being as agent. A person, according to Whitehead, is not an actual entity, but a society of actual entities. Whitehead's theory of human agency may be called the macroscopic theory. After an examination of these theories, I shall conclude by briefly criticizing them in two ways. First, for Whitehead there are no acts but only processes. Second, an adequate theory requires a doctrine of the persistence of the agent which Whitehead is unable to provide.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (100) ◽  
pp. 71-76
Author(s):  
T.V. Danylova ◽  
◽  
I.M. Hoian ◽  

Trying to reconcile the continuity of being with the discreteness of consciousness, modern seekers for the truth appeal to the Eastern mystical traditions based on the idea of the unity of all things and singularity of the world. In terms of analytical psychology, to overcome the human alienation from the world and from themselves is to return to his/her Self. C.G. Jung considered the reintegration of a personality to be a prerequisite for solving the spiritual, social, ethical, and political problems humanity is facing now. This process is the basis for the integrity of the psyche. Successful reintegration requires centering, that is, unification with everything that exists into one organic whole. Observing his patients, the psychoanalyst concluded that the idea of centering was archetypal to the spiritual pole of the unconscious. His therapy was aimed at achieving the Self in the process of individuation, i.e., the reintegration of the instinctive and spiritual poles of the psyche. The process of individuation is similar to the reintegration process in Yoga philosophy, which is symbolized by a mandala that reintegrates the perception of the world and helps us to reconcile with the total cosmic reality. According to C.G. Jung, a mandala is the universal psychic image, the symbol of the Oneness, the deep essence of the human soul. C.G. Jung believed that the achievement of the Self was a natural process embedded in the individuals. The questions posed by a great psychoanalyst push us into searching for ourselves, the golden mean in ourselves, our actions, and our views. The salvation of a modern human in the contemporary world full of conflicts is to find the way to the spiritual unity with humankind, which is the highest manifestation of the spiritual unity with the universe. This becomes possible due to a return to our Self. The paper aims at analyzing the Jungian concept of the Self in the context of oriental religious and philosophical teachings.


1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Mora Zahonero

Resumen: La doctrina conocida como «unidad del ser» tiene, en Ibn ʿArabī, su contrapunto en la visión dinámica de la creación continua o nueva creación, la cual postula que el cosmos, y todo cuanto contiene, es creado y recreado sin cesar a cada instante. Se trata de una visión caleidoscópica de la existencia que se enmarca dentro de lo que se ha dado en llamar «filosofías del acto», y más concretamente del acto creador divino, que contrastan poderosamente con las denominadas filosofías del ser, representadas por el pensamiento helénico y su concepción del ser como un principio inmutable. Revisaremos los antecedentes históricos de esta doctrina, tanto fuera como dentro del marco cultural del islam, y también las razones que la justifican, como, por ejemplo, el origen, en los nombres divinos, de los cambios que se producen en el exterior y el interior del ser humano o la indigencia ontológica de todo lo creado, que obliga a que su existencia se vea renovada de continuo por medio del Aliento del Todo-Misericordioso. De esta concepción dinámica de la realidad, en la que se precisa la intervención directa de la misericordia divina para el mantenimiento del mundo, se derivan diferentes consecuencias, como la insustancialidad, la inconsistencia y el carácter imaginal de las cosas que consideramos sólidas, el movimiento incesante de todo cuanto existe y la trascendencia de nuestra concepción habitual de la ley de causa y efecto. Por otro lado, el término «creación» es sinónimo de «teofanía» o manifestación divina. A pesar de las manifestaciones teofánicas son infinitas, todas ellas son irrepetibles. Además de otros textos, Ibn ʿArabī dedica gran parte del capítulo 12 de Los engarces de las sabidurías al tema que nos ocupa, vinculando la nueva creación a las fluctuaciones experimentadas por el corazón, las manifestaciones teofánicas y la pluralidad de las creencias que, acerca de la realidad, albergamos los seres humanos. La imaginación desempeña un papel crucial en esta perspectiva vertiginosa de la existencia, en la que ninguna realidad está, por así decirlo, plenamente cerrada o constituida. La facultad de la imaginación, tan importante en la cosmovisión akbarí, también es el principal intérprete de los signos que Dios ha diseminado en el exterior y el interior del ser humano, signos que siempre remiten al divino acto creador. La función suprema de la imaginación es hacer del mundo y de nosotros mismos un lugar de revelación teofánica, es decir, llevarnos a descubrir la presencia divina en todos los seres. Para ello, el sabio debe aplicar el doble ojo que contempla, al unísono, lo absoluto y lo relativo, la luz y la oscuridad, la unidad y la multiplicidad. La doctrina de la nueva creación nos presenta, en suma, una visión abierta de la realidad que nos asegura que no estamos condenados a repetir nuestro pasado y de que siempre tenemos la posibilidad de reconocer la irrupción continua de lo «radicalmente nuevo» en nuestra historia social y personal. La nueva creación también evoca la idea de que el mundo y las vidas de los seres humanos son una obra inconclusa. Corresponde, pues, a cada uno de nosotros, y en la medida de las posibilidades de nuestra imaginación creadora, darle el desenlace final.Palabras clave: nueva creación, filosofías del acto, ser, aliento del Todo-Misericordioso, cambio, indigencia ontológica, imaginación creadora. Abstract: In Ibn ʿArabī, the doctrine known as “unity of being” has his counterpart in the dynamic view of the continuous creation or new creation, which postulates that the universe and all it contains is created and recreated constantly to each instant. It is a kaleidoscopic view of life that is part of what has been called “philosophies of the act”, and more specifically of the divine creative act, which contrast strongly with the so-called philosophies of being, represented by the Greek thought and his conception of the being as an immutable principle. We will review the historical background of this doctrine, both outside and within the cultural framework of Islam, and the underlying reasons for it, like its origin in the divine names, the changes that occur on the outside and the inside the human being or the ontological indigence of all creation, which requires that its existence needs be continuously renewed by the breath of the All-Merciful. This dynamic conception of reality, which needs the direct intervention of divine mercy for the maintenance of world, has also different consequences: insubstantiality, inconsistency and imaginal character of things we consider as solid, the movement relentless of all that exists and the transcendence of our usual conception of the law of cause and effect. The doctrine of the new creation presents us, in short, an open view of reality that assures us that we are not doomed to repeat our past, and we always have the possibility of recognizing the continuing emergence of the “radically new” in our history social and personal. The new creation also evokes the idea that the world and the lives of human beings are a work in progress. Therefore, it is up to each of us, and to the extent of our creative imagination, gives it the final outcome. Keywords: new creation, philosophies of the act, being, breath of the All-Merciful, change, ontological indigence, creative imagination. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Elvina Albertovna Khusnutdinova ◽  
Dmitry Evgenyevich Martynov ◽  
Yulia Aleksandrovna Martynova

This article discusses the difficult period of the XVII - XIX century in China's development. As a result of Manchu taking over China, the Qing empire was formed, and historiographers differ in evaluating the results of its rule. On the one hand, the Qing dynasty inherited the sinocentric view of the world from its predecessors - China was declared as the center of the universe, and all other states as sidelined vassals, who should not be subject to equal treatment. Manchu attempted to apply this doctrine in practice, which resulted in a significant expansion of the state, the annexation of Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang, and border wars with Russia, Vietnam and Burma. The self-isolation policy led to economic stagnation while the population was growing strongly. These problems could not have been resolved within the bounds of the traditional society.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-60
Author(s):  
Alexander Darmawan Limasaputra

Penderitaan merupakan peristiwa yang dapat dialami setiap orang. Penderitaan telah membuat orang menangis, mempertanyakan atau bahkan meninggalkan Allah. Apakah penderitaan menjadi bukti bahwa Allah tidak ada? Bukankah kalau Allah ada maka penderitaan tidak ada? Apakah penderitaan menjadi bukti bahwa Allah sudah kalah dan tidak lagi berkuasa atas dunia? Artikel ini akan menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut melalui perspektif the already and the not yet dari rasul Paulus. Penulis menjelaskan bahwa penderitaan merupakan panggilan orang percaya karena berada di masa the already and the not yet, yaitu masa di mana Yesus Kristus telah menang atas kuasa dosa, kutuk alam semesta dan pemerintahan Iblis serta merupakan masa hadirnya pemerintahan Allah di dunia, meski semua ini belum mencapai kepenuhannya. Karena itu orang percaya tidak perlu takut atau meninggalkan iman Kristen. Kata-kata kunci: Penderitaan, Paulus, Eskatologi, The Already and the Not Yet, Ciptaan Baru, Pemerintahan Allah, Pemerintahan Iblis, Kuasa Dosa, Kutuk Alam Semesta    Suffering is something that is experienced by everyone. Suffering has made people cry out to God, question God or even leave God. Does suffering prove that God does not exist? Doesn’t God’s existence nullify suffering? Does suffering prove that God is impotent and no longer has power over the world? This article will address these questions through the framework of the already and the not yet schema developed by the apostle Paul. The author explains that suffering is a part of the call of believers because it is experienced between the time of the already and the not yet. A period when Jesus Christ has won over the power of sin, the curse of the universe and the government of Satan and is the time of God’s government in the world, even though all this has not yet reached fullness. Therefore, believers need not fear suffering nor leave the Christian faith because of it. Keywords: Suffering, Paul, Eschatology, The Already and the Not Yet, New Creation, God’s Rule, Satan’s Rule, Power of Sin, Curse on Creation


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amar Ma’ruf

Religion is a belief in the existence of a supernatural power who created and controls the universe. These days, Islam is often associated with terrorism so as to create Islamophobia. Distortion of information by the media decrease the good image of Islam. These days, many acts of terrorism going on in the world, but if not too highlighted if terrorists are not Muslims. Many civilians have been killed in Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, and other countries have been killed, but it is not too claimed to be an act of terrorism as well as acts of terrorism that occurred in western countries which incidentally is known culprit is Muslim. One of the ways that have a major impact is the need to be made regarding the rules of self-censorship licensed religious for the news media. Technical implementation of the self-censorship licensed religious use of risk management. The principle is prevention. Prevention of the media to present imbalance in the news much better benefits than giving punishment to the media which wrong in presenting the news. If self-censorship is implemented, not only the equal of news that will be obtained, but the moral improvement of mankind will be achieved, given the media is a tool that easily influence the human mind. Thus proved that the acts of terrorism that confront terrorist act of taking his religion is just a scapegoat in the group seemed to be the face of the religion. Key words: self-cencorship, religious, news, journalism, harmony


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-65
Author(s):  
Yam Prasad Sharma

Chandra Shyam Dangol's stone sculptures are magical and mystical suggesting supernatural and spiritual aspects related to wisdom and enlightenment. Unusual images and symbols have been put together. On the surface level, the combination appears strange and contrary but as we go through the myths related to the artworks, we find the underlined logic and coherent composition. The recurrent icons, images and symbols are the figures of deities, lotus, mudras (gestures) and asanas (postures) of meditating characters that are combined in an unusual manner.  They provide a sense of miraculous and thrilling spiritual experience. Breaking the monotony of mundane material existence, the works renew our perception. The aesthetic experience leads toward the awareness of the self and the universe and inspires for the harmonious existence of the individual in the world. Because of the mythical and spiritual contents, the sculptures appear to be mystical. The research area covers the stone sculptures of Chandra Shyam Dangol. About a dozen sculptures have been observed for the research but only four works have been interpreted in this paper. The paper attempts to trace the magical elements in his compositions and throw light on their significance. The study follows the qualitative research method to support the thesis statement since the interpretation of artworks may be multiple depending on viewers, time and place.


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