Whitehead's Radically Different Postmodern Philosophy: An Argument for Its Contemporary Relevance (S U N Y Series in Philosophy)

ISBN: 0791470504

Author: Griffin, David Ray

Condition: New

Examines the postmodern implications of Whiteheads metaphysical system.Postmodern philosophy is often dismissed as unintelligible, self-contradictory, and as a passing fad with no contribution to make to the problems faced by philosophers in our time. While this characterization may be true of the type of philosophy labeled postmodern in the 1980s and 1990s, David Ray Griffin argues that Alfred North Whitehead had formulated a radically different type of postmodern philosophy to which these criticisms do not apply. Griffin shows the power of Whiteheads philosophy in dealing with a range of contemporary issues-the mind-body relation, ecological ethics, truth as correspondence, the relation of time in physics to the (irreversible) time of our lives, and the reality of moral norms. He also defends a distinctive dimension of Whiteheads postmodernism, his theism, against various criticisms, including the charge that it is incompatible with relativity theory.Those who are unfamiliar with Griffins recent books will be grateful for this clear, readable, and thorough introduction to Whiteheads philosophy as constructive (rather than deconstructive) and postmodern. However, those who are well versed in Griffins previous books will also benefit from his expanded use of the theory of hard-core common sense, his defense of theological ethics, and his detailed examination of Whiteheads reformed subjectivist principle. In short, this is an excellent book that could be read with profit by philosophers and theologians generally. - Daniel A. Dombrowski, author of Rawls and Religion: The Case for Political LiberalismNo one working in the area of process thought will want to miss this major new book by David Ray Griffin. - Donald W. Sherburne, coeditor of Whiteheads Philosophy: Points of Connection