In this article, Whitehead's transition from a Philosophy of Evolution to a Philosophy of Organism is studied primarily on the basis of the evidence provided by the first two volumes of The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, especially the second volume that deals with the period 1925–1927 and that is subtitled General Metaphysical Problems of Science.

Beginning in September of 1924, Alfred North Whitehead presented a regular course of 85 lectures which concluded in May of 1925. These represent the first ever philosophy lectures he gave and capture him working out the philosophical implications of the remarkable turns physics had taken in his lifetime. This volume finally recreates these lectures by transcribing notes by W.P. Bell, W.E. Hocking and Louise Heath taken at the time - many of which have only recently been discovered and including hundreds (...) of sketches of Whitehead's blackboard diagrams. This is a unique insight into the evolution of Whitehead's thought during the months when he was drafting his seminal work, Science and the Modern World. (shrink)

This article will explore whether there are arguments for Aristotle's concept mixis which can aid our current discussions within the philosophy of chemistry. We remain troubled by the way and extent to which chemical substance in bulk can be identified with or reduced to the stability and structure of molecules, and whether these in turn can be identified with or reduced to elemental atoms and the quantum theoretical characterization of their electrons. Aristotle was as determined as we are to think (...) through the implications of substances comprised of constituents and to question their status in chemical compounds. (shrink)

Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Theories of chemistry have come to depend inescapably upon the framework provided by atomic physics. This is a dependency which is anchored upon the ability within quantum theory — in particular since the wave mechanics of Schrödinger — to account for chemical bonding by the pairing of electrons, the stability of their resulting structures, and thereby to provide a basis from which to deal with chemical behavior generally. The optimism generated fifty years ago by the initial attempts to apply this (...) framework1 has bolstered the supposition, within the sciences, that chemistry is exclusively an experimental science, it has no theory except what it borrows from atomic physics. It seems to have established, within philosophy, so secure an example of intertheoretic reduction that however often we hear it cited, it remains a case rarely, if ever, examined. (shrink)