A Taiji-Bagua Diagram for Whitehead’s Categoreal Scheme

Abstract

The present article illustrates the well-known affinity between Whitehead’s process philosophy and Chinese thought by mapping the category of the ultimate and the categories of existence in Whitehead’s categoreal scheme onto the Taiji and Bagua diagrams as developed in The Book of Changes, or I Ching. The Taiji-Bagua diagrams are models of organic unity that provide a framework and structure to better understand the category of the ultimate and the categories of existence—particularly how these categories are related to each other. They illustrate more clearly the coherent nature of Whitehead’s speculative philosophy as stated in Process and Reality.