Abstract

This chapter is about Alexander’s account of motion from Book 1 of Space, Time, and Deity. His conception of motion is compared and contrasted with Henri Bergson’s theory of motion and Bertrand Russell’s ‘at-at’ theory, which has become something like the orthodox analysis. Alexander proposes something quite different and original: motion is primitive, and space-time as a whole is composed of motions, where a spacetime-point is the limiting case of motion. Various problems with Russell’s theory are presented and Alexander’s theory is offered as an alternative that can overcome these issues. Alexander’s theory of motion is then considered in the context of contemporary metaphysics and an Alexandrian process monism is sketched in light of current debates.