Whitehead at Harvard, 1924–1925

Brian G. Henning is Professor of Philosophy and of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Gonzaga University and Executive Director of the Whitehead Research Project. Dr. Henning holds a M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University. He is author or editor of fifteen books and more than thirty-five articles and chapters. His 2005 book, The Ethics of Creativity (University of Pittsburgh Press), won the 2007 Findlay Book Prize from the Metaphysical Society of America for the best work of metaphysics published between 2001 and 2006. He is the Founder and General Editor of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead. Joseph Petek is the Director of Research and Publication of the Whitehead Research Project of Gonzaga University and Executive Editor of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead. He has co-edited three books on Whitehead: Rethinking Whitehead’s Symbolism (2017), Whitehead at Harvard, 1924–1925 (2020), and The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, 1925–1927: General Metaphysical Problems of Science (2021). His latest book is Unearthing the Unknown Whitehead (2022), which examines the significance of Whitehead's Harvard lectures and other previously unknown archival materials.

The fact is that, thanks to the Whitehead family’s generosity, meticulous scholarship on the part of the WRP, and a dose of good luck, we now have much more of Whitehead’s unpublished work than was previously believed to exist. The new material invites a fresh look at the development and overall significance of Whitehead’s philosophy.

• AbbreviationsAcknowledgementsPrefaceA Brief History of the Critical Edition of WhiteheadBrian G. HenningIntroductionTales from the Whitehead Mines: On Whitehead, His Students, and the challenges of Editing the Critical EditionJoseph PetekPart I: The First Lecture1. First lecture: September, 1924Alfred North Whitehead2. Examining Whitehead’s ‘First lecture: September, 1924’Paul A. BogaardPart II: The Fitness of the Environment3. Whitehead and his Philosophy of EvolutionPaul A. Bogaard4. Some Clarifications on Evolution and TimeMaria-Teresa Teixeira 5. Whitehead’s Biological TurnDennis SölchPart III: Physics and Relativity6. Quanta and Corpuscles: The Influence of Quantum Mechanical Ideas on Whitehead's Transitional Philosophy in Light of The Harvard LecturesGary L. Herstein7. From Physics to Philosophy, and from Continuity to AtomicityRonny Desmet8. Whitehead’s Highly Speculative Lectures on Quantum TheoryRonny Desmet9. On Herstein’s ‘Quanta and Corpuscles’Ronny Desmet10. Reply to DesmetGary L. HersteinPart IV: Whitehead’s Philosophical Context11. Whitehead and Kant at CopenhagenJason Bell, Seshu Iyengar12. Whitehead’s Early Harvard Period, Hartshorne, and the Transcendental ProjectGeorge W. Shields13. Footnotes to PlatoAljoscha BervePart V: Metaphysical Reflections14. Diagrams and MythsGeorge Allan15. How ‘Eternity’ got ‘Thrown Forward’ into ‘Perishing’Jude JonesPart VI: Reinterpreting Whitehead16. Uncovering a ‘New’ WhiteheadGeorge R. Lucas, Jr.17. Whitehead in Class: Do the Harvard-Radcliffe Course Notes Change How we Understand Whitehead’s Thought?Brian G. Henning Notes on ContributorsIndex