Whitehead, Alfred North

(1861-1947) philosopher; professor at Trinity College,
Cambridge; London University; Harvard; Realist metaphysics; wrote 1. Process and Reality, Science and the Modern World, and 2. Adventures in Ideas. He combines elements of Platonism, realism, panpsychism, and relativity physics. Originally, he was a realist ("I am in the world; the world is not in me." 1925). He became more idealistic ("I am in the world, and the world is in me." 1933). Reality is pictured as a network or process of interrelated events comprising mutually sensitive fields which "prehend" each other and form "minds." When actualized, events are structured by the "eternal objects" or forms of existence.