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
discovery weapons facts
The paradox is now fully established that the utmost abstractions are the true weapons with which to control our thought of concrete fact.
civilization age degrees
It must be admitted that there is a degree of instability which is inconsistent with civilization. But, on the whole, the great ages have been unstable ages.
faces doe spirit
Religion will not regain its old power until it can face change in the same spirit as does science.
earth rise-above
The future belongs to those who can rise above the confines of the earth.
powerful sight ideas
With the sense of sight, the idea communicates the emotion, whereas, with sound, the emotion communicates the idea, which is more direct and therefore more powerful.
thinking ideas vacuums
A philosopher of imposing stature doesn't think in a vacuum. Even his most abstract ideas are, to some extent, conditioned by what is or is not known in the time when he lives.
real history people
The real history does not get written, because it is not in people's brains but in their nerves and vitals.
math errors facts
There is no more common error than to assume that, because prolonged and accurate mathematical calculations have been made, the application of the result to some fact of nature is absolutely certain.
contemplation diagrams mathematical
No Roman ever died in contemplation over a geometrical diagram.
math ordinary language
Algebra reverses the relative importance of the factors in ordinary language.
stars attitude sunset
After you understand about the sun and the stars and the rotation of the earth, you may still miss the radiance of the sunset.
education ideas useless
Education with inert ideas is not only useless; it is above all things harmful.
change practice dumb
In every age of well-marked transition, there is the pattern of habitual dumb practice and emotion which is passing and there is oncoming a new complex of habit.
moving fate race
In the conditions of modern life the rule is absolute, the race which does not value trained intelligence is doomed. Not all your heroism, not all your social charm, not all your wit, not all your victories on land or at sea, can move back the finger of fate. To-day we maintain ourselves. To-morrow science will have moved forward yet one more step, and there will be no appeal from the judgment which will then be pronounced on the uneducated.