The Concept of Nature: The Tarner Lectures Delivered in Trinity College, November 1919Whitehead, Alfred North
Philosophy
The Concept of Nature: The Tarner Lectures Delivered in Trinity College, November 1919
Whitehead, Alfred North
Knowledge, Theory of; Nature; Science -- Philosophy
Anyhow you are tempted to exclaim, the cook is in the kitchen. If you
mean her mind, I will not agree with you on the point; for I am only
talking of nature. Let us think only of her bodily presence. What do you
mean by this notion? We confine ourselves to typical manifestations of
it. You can see her, touch her, and hear her. But the examples which I
have given you show that the notions of the situations of what you see,
what you touch, and what you hear are not so sharply separated out as to
defy further questioning. You cannot cling to the idea that we have two
sets of experiences of nature, one of primary qualities which belong to
the objects perceived, and one of secondary qualities which are the
products of our mental excitements. All we know of nature is in the same
boat, to sink or swim together. The constructions of science are merely
expositions of the characters of things perceived. Accordingly to affirm
that the cook is a certain dance of molecules and electrons is merely to
affirm that the things about her which are perceivable have certain
characters. The situations of the perceived manifestations of her bodily
presence have only a very general relation to the situations of the
molecules, to be determined by discussion of the circumstances of
perception.
In discussing the relations of situation in particular and of ingression
in general, the first requisite is to note that objects are of radically
different types. For each type 'situation' and 'ingression' have their
own special meanings which are different from their meanings for other
types, though connexions can be pointed out. It is necessary therefore
in discussing them to determine what type of objects are under
consideration. There are, I think, an indefinite number of types of
objects. Happily we need not think of them all. The idea of situation
has its peculiar importance in reference to three types of objects which
I call sense-objects, perceptual objects and scientific objects. The
suitability of these names for the three types is of minor importance,
so long as I can succeed in explaining what I mean by them.
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