Whitehead’s Highly Speculative Lectures on Quantum Theory

Abstract

Ronny Desmet endeavors in this chapter to examine Whitehead’s theory of quantum theory and primates as found in his Harvard lectures using Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism as a starting point while refusing to abandon the idea of continuous space-time, using wave equations as his mathematical vehicle. The chapter contains sections detailing Whitehead’s alternative theory of gravitation, his paradigm of the electron as a complex organism, and his reaction to Niels Bohr’s model of the atom. The chapter concluded that Whitehead wanted a complete reconceptualisation of the atom in terms of atomic structures of vibrations, intending to leave behind all remnants of the materialistic theory in favour of an organic theory.