The lure of Whitehead

438 Pages·2014·4.65 MB·English

by  Gaskill

The Lure
of WhiTehead

The Lure
of WhiTehead
NichoLas GaskiLL
and a. J. Nocek, editors
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
Chapter 1 was previously published as “A Constructivist Reading of Process
and Reality,” Theory, Culture & Society 25, no. 4 (July 2008): 91–1 10; reprinted
by permission of SAGE Publications. Chapter 3 was previously published as
What Is the Style of Matters of Concern? (Assen, Netherlands: Van Gorcum,
2008).
Copyright 2014 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401– 2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The lure of Whitehead / Nicholas Gaskill and A. J. Nocek, editors.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8166-7995-9 (hc : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8166-7996-6 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Whitehead, Alfred North, 1861–1947. I. Gaskill, Nicholas, b. 1981, editor.
B1674.W354L87 2014
192—dc23
2014002119
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer.
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
contents
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction
An Adventure of Thought 1
Nicholas Gaskill and A. J. Nocek
Part i sPecuLaTioN beyoNd The bifurcaTioN
one
A Constructivist Reading of Process and Reality 43
Isabelle Stengers
two
Scientism and the Modern World 65
Jeffrey A. Bell
three
What Is the Style of Matters of Concern? 92
Bruno Latour
four
The Technics of Prehension: On the Photography of Nicholas Baier 127
Nathan Brown
Part ii The MeTaPhysics of creaTiviTy
five
Whitehead’s Involution of an Outside Chance 157
Peter Canning
six
Multiplicity and Mysticism: Toward a New Mystagogy
of Becoming 187
Roland Faber
SEVEN
The Event and the Occasion: Deleuze, Whitehead, and Creativity 207
Keith Robinson
EIGHT
Whitehead and Schools X, Y, and Z 231
Graham Harman
NINE
Whitehead’s Curse? 249
James Williams
TEN
Cutting Away from Smooth Space: Alfred North Whitehead’s
Extensive Continuum in Parametric Software 267
Luciana Parisi
Part iii Process ecoLoGy
ELEVEN
Possessive Subjects: A Speculative Interpretation of Nonhumans 299
Didier Debaise
TWELVE
Another Regard 312
Erin Manning
thirteen
Of “Experiential Togetherness”: Toward a More Robust Empiricism 332
Steven Meyer
fourteen
The Order of Nature and the Creation of Societies 360
Michael Halewood
fifteen
Imaginative Chemistry: Synthetic Ecologies and the Construction
of Life 379
A. J. Nocek
Contributors 415
Index 419
acknowledgments
Whitehead’s philosophy of organism tells us that nothing is what it is
outside of the relations it holds to a wider environment. This idea has been
made even more vivid for us in the process of editing this book. From start
to finish, we benefited from the advice, enthusiasm, provocations, and
generosity of a host of friends and colleagues, without whom The Lure of
Whitehead would not be what it is. Gregory Flaxman deserves special rec-
ognition; without his prompting, we never would have met one another let
alone pursued his suggestion of editing a volume on Whitehead. We are
deeply grateful for his guidance and friendship. Douglas Armato has been
a supportive and energetic editor from the moment we approached him
about the book, and Danielle Kasprzak provided quick and essential ad-
vice on practical matters without ever showing exasperation at our many
questions and emails. The readers for the University of Minnesota Press
offered encouraging and helpful suggestions on how to develop the volume.
Because of their reports, the final collection is a stronger and more compre-
hensive account of the new interest in Whitehead than the one we ini-
tially proposed. We are grateful to Gwendolen Muren, who assisted in
the early stages of formatting and proofreading, as well as to Katherine
Hunt and Kyla Schuller, whose late- stage edits sharpened our Introduc-
tion. Each of us would also like to thank the institutions that provided us
with the time and resources to develop this project: Nicholas thanks the
Society of Fellows at the University of Chicago and the Department of
English at Rutgers University; Adam thanks the Comparative History of Ideas
Program and the comparative literature department at the University of
Washington.
vii
viii ackNoWLedGMeNTs
One of the most exciting aspects of assembling this volume has been
delving into the adventure of Whiteheadian thought. In this enterprise,
each of us benefited greatly from conversations and engagements with
our colleagues. Nicholas would especially like to thank Michael Thomas
for his diligence and insight during a year of reading through Whitehead’s
works, as well as the short- lived “Occasionalists” group at the University of
North Carolina for meeting Whitehead’s strange philosophy with patience
and curiosity. Colin Jager and Margaret Ronda, at Rutgers, and the members
of the Society of Fellows at the University of Chicago all offered a helpful mix
of interest and skepticism as we framed our Introduction. Adam would like
to thank both Gregory Flaxman and Gregg Lambert for their continued sup-
port and guidance during the writing and revising process. He also thanks
Phillip Thurtle, whose friendship and mentorship proved invaluable for
thinking about Whitehead and biology outside pre established frame-
works. And without fellowship assistance from the “Biological Futures in a
Globalized World” initiative, jointly sponsored by the Fred Hutchison Cancer
Research Center and the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the Universi-
ty of Washington, the time and energy required for this project would never
have been possible.
Finally, Nicholas thanks his ever- supportive family for their ongoing en-
couragement and love. He also thanks William T. Myers for introducing
him to Whitehead’s philosophy more than a decade ago; without that initial
lure, this volume could not possibly have taken the form that it has. Adam
would like to offer a special thanks to his loving wife, Stacey, for her en-
couragement, guidance, and never- ending belief in his ability to succeed,
along with his two girls, Fiona and Ivy, for the love and laughter they bring
into his life.
abbreviations
AI Adventures of Ideas (New York: The Free Press, 1967 [1933])
CN The Concept of Nature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1964 [1920])
FR The Function of Reason (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1929)
MT Modes of Thought (New York: The Free Press, 1968 [1938])
PR Process and Reality: Corrected Edition, ed. D. R. Griffin and D. W.
Sherburne (New York: The Free Press, 1978 [1927– 28])
RM Religion in the Making (New York: Fordham University Press, 1996
[1926])
S Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect (New York: Fordham University
Press, 1985 [1927])
SMW Science and the Modern World (New York: The Free Press, 1967
[1925])
ix