Alfred North Whitehead's Philosophy of History

Abstract

My purpose in writing this paper is not difficult to describe: I have tried to become intimately acquainted with Alfred North Whitchead's philosophy of' history. Because of' this goal of intimate acquaintance, the paper is necessarily a sympathetic exposition of Whitehead's thoughts about the historical process. I have made no attempt to evaluate Whitehead' s perspective, for fear that too hasty an evaluation might prevent the intimate acquaintance which has been my primary goal. I have found, however, that such acquaintance was promoted by my attempt to respond to Whitehead by applying his perspective to the behavior of functioning historians generally, and to the intentions of' Arnold Toynbee specifically.