The Metaphysics of Experience: A Companion to Whitehead's Process and Reality

American Philosophy

by Elizabeth M. Kraus

The Metaphysics of Experience styles itself as "a Sherpa guide to Process and Reality, whose function is to assist the serious reader in grasping the meaning of the text and to prevent falls into misinterpretation." Although originally published in 1925, Process and Reality has perhaps even more relevance to the contemporary scene in physics, biology, psychology, and the social sciences than it had in the mid-twenties. Hence its internal difficulty, its quasi-inaccessibility, is all the more tragic, since, unlike most metaphysical endeavors, it is capable of interpreting and unifying theories in the above sciences in terms of an organic world view, instead of selecting one theory as the paradigm and reducing all others to it. Because Alfred North Whitehead is so crucial to modern philosophy, The Metaphysics of Experience plays an important role in making Process and Reality accessible to a wider readership.

The Metaphysics of A Companion to Whitehead's Process and Reality is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.

Genres: Philosophy, Metaphysics

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Alex Leong · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are three kinds of Whitehead writers: those who cannot comprehend Whitehead, those who think about Whitehead, and those who think with Whitehead. Elizabeth Kraus falls into the third category, which is what makes this book such a helpful and elucidating guide to Whitehead's often-confusing work, Process and Reality.

[Carlos Augusto Méndez Alvarado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucid and most of the time helpful in deciphering Process and Reality. Specifically at the beginning and the end. Some parts though, seem even more complicated and intricate than the book it’s trying to explain. Actually had to read the equivalent part in Process and Reality to fully understand The Metaphysics of Experience.

[Steen Ledet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dense introduction to Whitehead’s Process and Reality.