Quanta and Corpuscles: The Influence of Quantum Mechanical Ideas on Whitehead’s Transitional Philosophy in Light of The Harvard Lectures

Abstract

Gary Herstein points out in this chapter that there has been much curiosity over the years about how much quantum theory may have influenced Whitehead’s philosophy and metaphysics, but that prior to the publication of the first volume of Harvard lectures, most of this was of necessity purely speculative. The chapters begins with an examination of the chaotic scene in physics at the time, with everything having been thrown into disarray with the discovery of quantum phenomena, and particularly the introduction of discrete units into phenomena that had been thought to be continuous. Whitehead emphasised the centrality of continuity and its different modes while refusing to surrender conceptual explanations in favour of mere mathematical cleverness.