Entertainment in the Twilight Zone? Whitehead's Radically Empirical Theory of Propositions

Abstract Given its frequency of use and importance to his philosophy, it is surprising not to find the term “entertainment” covered in any of the indexes to Whitehead's books. I will argue it is not by accident that the concept appears so many times and qualifies as a technical term for process philosophy. Entertainment involves the unhurried rhythms of the world that operate with quiet restraint. To entertain is to remind us of Whitehead's dictum that in the real world, it is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true. The importance of truth is that it adds to interest. This article will explicate Whitehead's theory of propositions as well as the aesthetic foundations of experience, which lie in the “twilight zone” of subjective valuation between physical purposes and clear consciousness.