„Wissen hält nicht länger als Fisch.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Übersetzung Wikiquote
Zitate von Alfred North Whitehead
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Alfred North Whitehead
Geburtstag: 15. Februar 1861
Todesdatum: 30. Dezember 1947
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Alfred North Whitehead OM war ein britischer Philosoph und Mathematiker.
Bekannt wurde Alfred Whitehead durch das Standardwerk „Principia Mathematica“ über Logik, das er zusammen mit seinem langjährigen Schüler und Freund Bertrand Russell zwischen 1911 und 1913 in drei Bänden veröffentlichte. Es stellte den Versuch dar, im Sinne des logizistischen Programmes alle wahren mathematischen Aussagen und Beweise auf eine symbolische Logik zurückzuführen. Obwohl ein geplanter vierter Band nicht mehr veröffentlicht wurde und die Frage, ob der Versuch selbst erfolgreich war, weiterhin kontrovers diskutiert wird, wurde „Principia Mathematica“ zu einem der einflussreichsten Bücher der Geschichte der Mathematik und Logik.
In seiner Londoner Zeit von 1911 bis 1924 machte Whitehead sich einen Namen als Naturphilosoph, als Wissenschaftstheoretiker, als Kritiker der Ausbildung an Großbritanniens Universitäten und als Autor mehrerer Bücher über Erziehung.
Nach seiner Berufung an die Harvard University im Jahr 1924 konnte er sich ganz der weiteren Ausarbeitung seiner prozessphilosophischen Metaphysik widmen. Als sein philosophisches Hauptwerk gilt „Process and Reality“ , in dem er seiner „Philosophy of Organism“ die Form gab, die später auch zur Grundlage der Prozesstheologie wurde. Darin strukturiert er auf der Grundlage der Rationalität und Kohärenz die Wirklichkeit als einen Organismus, der sich in elementaren Ereignissen vollzieht und sich in einer evolutionären Entwicklung befindet. Obwohl die philosophische Sekundärliteratur zu Whitehead umfangreich ist, ist der Einfluss seiner Metaphysik auf die akademische Philosophie bis heute bescheiden geblieben.
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„Die Hauptgefahr für die Philosophie ist Enge in der Auswahl des Anschauungsmaterials.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Prozeß und Realität (Process and Reality), Teil V, Kapitel 1, Abschnitt 1
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„Die sicherste allgemeine Charakterisierung der philosophischen Tradition Europas lautet, daß sie aus einer Reihe von Fußnoten zu Platon besteht.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Prozeß und Realität (Process and Reality), Teil II, Kapitel 1, Abschnitt 1, S. 91
„Jedes physische Objekt, das seine Umgebung durch eigenen Einfluß zerstört, begeht Selbstmord.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Wissenschaft und moderne Welt
„Das Bild - und es ist nur ein Bild -, das Bild, anhand dessen man sich dieses tätige Wachstum der Natur Gottes am besten vorstellen kann, ist das einer zärtlichen Fürsorge dafür, daß nichts verloren geht.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Prozeß und Realität - (Process and Reality), Teil V, Kapitel 4
„Knowledge does not keep any better than fish.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: For successful education there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. It must be either new in itself or invested with some novelty of application to the new world of new times. Knowledge does not keep any better than fish. You may be dealing with knowledge of the old species, with some old truth; but somehow it must come to the students, as it were, just drawn out of the sea and with the freshness of its immediate importance.
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„The task of philosophy is to recover the totality obscured by the selection.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: Philosophy is the self-correction by consciousness of its own initial excess of subjectivity. Each actual occasion contributes to the circumstances of its origin additional formative elements deepening its own peculiar individuality. Consciousness is only the last and greatest of such elements by which the selective character of the individual obscures the external totality from which it originates and which it embodies. An actual individual, of such higher grade, has truck with the totality of things by reason of its sheer actuality; but it has attained its individual depth of being by a selective emphasis limited to its own purposes. The task of philosophy is to recover the totality obscured by the selection.
Pt. I, ch. 1, sec. 6.
„The universities are schools of education, and schools of research.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: The universities are schools of education, and schools of research. But the primary reason for their existence is not to be found either in the mere knowledge conveyed to the students or in the mere opportunities for research afforded to the members of the faculty. Both these functions could be performed at a cheaper rate, apart from these very expensive institutions. Books are cheap, and the system of apprenticeship is well understood. So far as the mere imparting of information is concerned, no university has had any justification for existence since the popularization of printing in the fifteenth century. Yet the chief impetus to the foundation of universities came after that date, and in more recent times has even increased. The justification for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest of life, by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning.
„Some philosophers fail to distinguish propositions from judgments; … But in the real world it is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: Some philosophers fail to distinguish propositions from judgments; … But in the real world it is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true. The importance of truth is that it adds to interest.
p. 259.
Variant: It is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true. This statement is almost a tautology. For the energy of operation of a proposition in an occasion of experience is its interest, and its importance. But of course a true proposition is more apt to be interesting than a false one.
As extended upon in Adventures of Ideas (1933), Pt. 4, Ch. 16.
„The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex facts. We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex facts. We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, "Seek simplicity and distrust it."
The Concept of Nature (1919), Chapter VII, p.143 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18835/18835-h/18835-h.htm#CHAPTER_VII.
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„The justification for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest of life, by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: The universities are schools of education, and schools of research. But the primary reason for their existence is not to be found either in the mere knowledge conveyed to the students or in the mere opportunities for research afforded to the members of the faculty. Both these functions could be performed at a cheaper rate, apart from these very expensive institutions. Books are cheap, and the system of apprenticeship is well understood. So far as the mere imparting of information is concerned, no university has had any justification for existence since the popularization of printing in the fifteenth century. Yet the chief impetus to the foundation of universities came after that date, and in more recent times has even increased. The justification for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest of life, by uniting the young and the old in the imaginative consideration of learning.
„All the world over and at all times there have been practical men, absorbed in 'irreducible and stubborn facts'; all the world over and at all times there have been men of philosophic temperament, who have been absorbed in the weaving of general principles. It is this union of passionate interest in the detailed facts with equal devotion to abstract generalisation which forms the novelty of our present society.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: The new tinge to modern minds is a vehement and passionate interest in the relation of general principles to irreducible and stubborn facts. All the world over and at all times there have been practical men, absorbed in 'irreducible and stubborn facts'; all the world over and at all times there have been men of philosophic temperament, who have been absorbed in the weaving of general principles. It is this union of passionate interest in the detailed facts with equal devotion to abstract generalisation which forms the novelty of our present society.
Ch. 1: "The Origins of Modern Science"
„The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them. When the idea is new, its custodians have fervor, live for it, and, if need be, die for it.
p. 100; Ch. 12, April 28, 1938.
„In the inescapable flux, there is something that abides; in the overwhelming permanence, there is an element that escapes into flux.“
— Alfred North Whitehead
Context: In the inescapable flux, there is something that abides; in the overwhelming permanence, there is an element that escapes into flux. Permanence can be snatched only out of flux; and the passing moment can find its adequate intensity only by its submission to permanence.
