The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, 1924-1925: Philosophical Presuppositions of Science(The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead)

About the Book

Beginning in September of 1924, Alfred North Whitehead presented a regular course of 85 lectures which concluded in May of 1925. These represent the first ever philosophy lectures he gave and capture him working out the philosophical implications of the remarkable turns physics had taken in his lifetime. This volume finally recreates these lectures by transcribing notes by W. P. Bell, W. E. Hocking and Louise Heath taken at the time many of which have only recently been discovered and including hundreds of sketches of Whitehead's blackboard diagrams. This is a unique insight into the evolution of Whitehead's thought during the months when he was drafting his seminal work, Science and the Modern World.

Table of Contents:
General Introduction to the Critical EditionEditorial Principles to the Critical EditionAcknowledgements for the Critical EditionChronology for Alfred North Whitehead and his Published Works Introduction to Volume One: 'Philosophical Presuppositions of Science' Emerson Hall Lectures: 1924–1925First Semester: Phil 3b LecturesLecture 1 – 42 transcriptions of Bell & Hocking notes Second Semester: Phil 3b LecturesLecture 43 – 85 transcriptions of Bell & Hocking notes Radcliffe Lectures: 1924–1925First Semester: Phil 3b LecturesLectures 1 – 42 transcriptions of Heath notes Second Semester: Phil 3b LecturesLectures 43 – 84 transcriptions of Heath notes Graduate Seminary in Metaphysics, Phil 20h October transcriptions of Hocking notes Appendix: Sample scans of original handwritten notes Index

About the Author :
Paul A. Bogaard retired from teaching after 40 years at Mount Allison University, having published on the philosophy of chemistry, history of science in Canada, ancient philosophy; and since retirement on the local history of the Chignecto area of Maritime Canada. A founding director of the Tantramar Heritage Trust, the Sackville Waterfowl Park, the Cape Jourimain Nature Centre, and the UNESCO-designated Fundy Biosphere Reserve Jason Bell is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick. He has taught in the graduate program at the Higher Institute of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium and at Mount Allison University in Canada, and has served at the University of Gttingen as Fulbright Professor, as scholar-in-residence at Boston University, as Onderzoeksfonds Research Fellow at the Husserl Archives, and as d'Alzon Fellow at Assumption College. He was awarded the doctorate in philosophy at Vanderbilt University. His research focuses on ethics and the relation of American and European philosophy.

Review :
"This is a truly revelatory volume that helps to put more of the various pieces of the puzzle that is Whitehead's philosophical thought together ... It is certain that Whitehead scholars and enthusiasts all stand together in welcoming this valuable contribution." --Adam C. Scarfe, University of Winnipeg, Process Studies

"This volume is an indispensable asset for any Whitehead scholar. The book shall also prove important for people interested in the history of the philosophy of science and the history of philosophy generally, since it tracks many unexpected parallels between Whitehead's specific outlook and the philosophies of Descartes and Spinoza, Leibniz and Kant, Russell and Wittgenstein, Husserl and Bergson. Last but not least, it documents a significant turning point in the philosophical development of one of the most important thinkers of 20th century. " --Rosen Lutskanov, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Balkan Journal of Philosophy