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
knowledge-and-power impossible emotion
It is impossible to meditate on time and the mystery of nature without an overwhelming emotion at the limitations of human intelligence.
real knowledge science
In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat, but in the evolution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress toward a victory.
knowledge passion men
No man of science wants merely to know. He acquires knowledge to appease his passion for discovery. He does not discover in order to know, he knows in order to discover.
past use-it-or-lose-it use-of-knowledge
The only use of knowledge of the past is to equip us for the present.
plato philosophical knowledge
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.
brutal courage firm force rather resolve true virtue vulgar
True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes. Rather the firm resolve of virtue and reason.
analysis common-sense mind seldom simple solutions takes undertake unusual
Simple solutions seldom are. It takes a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.
bother familiar mankind mind requires undertake unusual
Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.
achievement english-mathematician periods seldom
Periods of tranquility are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up.
matter subject-matter manifestation
There is only one subject matter for education, and that is Life in all its manifestations
imagination experience tragedy
The tragedy of the world is that those who are imaginative have but slight experience, and those who are experienced have feeble imaginations.
may coats seamless
You may not divide the seamless coat of learning,
writing animal interesting
Many a scientist has patiently designed experiments for the purpose of substantiating his belief that animal operations are motivated by no purposes. He has perhaps spent his spare time in writing articles to prove that human beings are as other animals so that 'purpose' is a category irrelevant for the explanation of their bodily activities, his own activities included. Scientists animated by the purpose of proving that they are purposeless constitute an interesting subject for study.
philosophy effort romance
Philosophy is the product of wonder. The effort after the general characterization of the world around us is the romance of human thought.