Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead OM FRSwas an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found application to a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology, among other areas...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMathematician
Date of Birth15 February 1861
Alfred North Whitehead quotes about
may mood paradox
It is not paradox to say that in our most theoretical moods we may be nearest to our most practical applications.
fishes
Knowledge keeps no better than fish.
lying hands leader
The main importance of Francis Bacon's influence does not lie in any peculiar theory of inductive reasoning which he happened to express, but in the revolt against second-hand information of which he was a leader.
development derivatives medieval
Faith in the possibility of science, generated antecedently to the development of modern scientific theory, is an unconscious derivative from medieval theology.
writing men gains
A man really writes for an audience of about ten persons. Of course if others like it, that is clear gain. But if those ten are satisfied, he is content.
adventure civilization columbus
Without adventure all civilization is full of decay. Adventure rarely reaches its predetermined end. Columbus never reached China.
errors may chance
Error itself may be happy chance.
differences experience
The difference between ancients and moderns is that the ancients asked what have we experienced, and moderns asked what can we experience.
god reason given
No reason can be given for the nature of God, because that nature is the ground of rationality.
government facts considering
Governments are best classified by considering who are the "somebodies" they are in fact endeavoring to satisfy.
simplicity distrust
Seek simplicity, then distrust.
sight names people
The world is shocked, or amused, by the sight of saintly old people hindering in the name of morality the removal of obvious brutalities from a legal system.
art soul reason
Fertilization of the soul is the reason for the necessity of art.
art lying sunset
Art heightens the sense of humanity. It gives an elation to feeling which is supernatural...A million sunsets will not spur us on towards civilization. It requires Art to evoke into consciousness the finite perfections which lie ready for human achievement.