Alfred North Whitehead. Process and Reality. An Essay in Cosmology Part I. Charter III. Some Derivative Notions

Readers are invited to the translation of the third chapter of the central work of A.N. Whitehead “Process and Reality” (1929), in which the author gives the final fundamental touches to the foundations of the process philosophy (philosophy of the organism), which he outlined in the first two chapters of this work, already translated into Russian. The third chapter touches on many aspects of all subsequent chapters, focusing on such categories as ‘the primary nature of God’, ‘creativity’, ‘societies’ (connections of the basic elements of reality), atomism and continuity. The purpose of the explanatory article is to identify Whitehead’s innovative approach to the formation of fundamental categories of reality and experience, ignoring the principles of which can significantly complicate and distort the content of his philosophy. It also briefly discusses the principles of Whitehead’s philosophy in general, such as metaphysics and speculativeness, along with the radical empiricism and realism of his system. The consistent combination of these traditionally opposing features in the history of philosophy makes his system one of the most profound, innovative and paradigmatic metaphysics of the 20th century.