Theology, Process

Alfred North Whitehead

Whitehead (1861–1947), renowned for his mathematical/philosophical ability, wanted to find a set of philosophical concepts that was capable of explaining all beings, from God down to the smallest bacterium. Combining philosophical speculation with science, he created a construct he called the “actual occasion” or “actual entity,” that is, the basic unit of all reality. Whitehead felt that all things could be explained as being the result of actual occasions, all related with different degrees of depth. An actual occasion is nothing more than a brief occurrence that is created by one's self and is influenced, in part, by other actual occasions.

Whitehead thought that every actual occasion or entity has two natures—one physical and the other mental. In terms of physicality, the actual entity experiences or “prehends” the corporal reality of other actual entities, whereas in terms of mental phenomena, it prehends objects through which actual entities possess intangible definition. These objects are usually defined as theoretical or conceptual possibilities of the universe, and the actual entities disconnect themselves from each other whether or not they recognize these possibilities. The term prebend refers to a touching or [Page 1248]clutching of the material and/or theoretical data of actual entities. Prehending allows actual entities to be interconnected (not externally, however, as is the scenario in several other philosophical schools). In essence, this means that the entities are not inaccessible or autonomous beings, but are present in other actual entities as interconnected moments of an ongoing process. This quality of prehension or sensation is not a conscious or intellectual act except with higher forms of life but the dipolar formation and the prehensive role are present in some sense in every actual entity, regardless of its intricacies.

Whitehead felt that creativity was another universal concept and that each actual entity possessed a modicum of freedom that was articulated in one's “subjective aim.” The self-creative process is a method for attaining one's subjective aims and includes the unification of its historical prehensions, accomplished through the addition of something new—which may be likened to the entity's exceptional gift to the world. Once the entity has realized its subjective aim, it attains “satisfaction” and then shuts down, no longer experiencing anything. It now becomes a focal point for the prehensions of any ensuing actual entities. The actual entity's life is brief, and each individual process that takes place in the world must be viewed as the development of organically related occasions or momentary experiences.

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