An enquiry concerning the principles of natural knowledge — John Shaqi
An enquiry concerning the principles of natural knowledgeWhitehead, Alfred North
Philosophy
An enquiry concerning the principles of natural knowledge
Whitehead, Alfred North
Knowledge, Theory of; Science -- Philosophy; Space and time
16.3 The condition 'now-present' specifies a particular duration.
It evidently refers to some relation; for 'now' is 'simultaneous with,'
and 'present' is 'in the presence of' or 'presented to.' Thus
'now-present' refers to some relation between the duration and something
else. This 'something else' is the event 'here-present,' which is the
definite connecting link between individual experienced knowledge and
self-sufficient nature. The essential existence of the event
'here-present' is the reason why perception is from within nature and is
not an external survey. It is the 'percipient event.' The percipient
event defines its associated duration, namely its corresponding 'all
nature.'
16.4 The 'here' in 'here-present' also refers
to the specific relation between the percipient event and its associated
duration. It means 'here within the duration,' i.e. 'here within the
present continuum of nature.' Thus the relation between an event
'here-present' and its associated duration embodies in some form the
property of rest in the duration; for otherwise 'here' would be an
equivocation. The relation in any concrete case may be complex,
involving more than one meaning of 'here,' but the essential character
of the relation is that as we (according to the method of extensive
abstraction) properly diminish the extent of such an event, the property
of 'rest in' the associated duration becomes more obvious. When an event
has the property of being a percipient event unequivocally here within
an associated duration, we shall say that it is 'cogredient' with the
duration.
16.5 An event can be cogredient with only one duration. To have
this relation to the duration it must be temporally present throughout
the duration and exhibit one specific meaning of 'here.' But a duration
can have many events cogredient with it. Namely any event, which is
temporally present throughout that duration and in relation to an event
here-present defines one specific meaning of 'there,' is an event
'there-present' which has the same relation of cogredience to that
duration and (to that extent) is (so far) potentially an event
'here-present' in that duration for some possible act of apprehension.
Thus cogredience is a condition for a percipient event yielding
unequivocal meanings to 'here' and 'now.'
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