A Crossroads for Process Philosophy

Abstract

One task of philosophy is to re-examine itself with respect to its goals, methods, and fields of inquiry. Its foundations must be re-evaluated continuously. This article will undertake the task of re-examining Process Philosophy and of outlining one of the basic decisions with which it must be concerned. Is the processive character of reality directly given to the philosopher as his ultimate datum or does Process Philosophy structure reality according to the characteristics of a creative becoming? This article will focus primarily upon the metaphysical issues involved in this question and will postpone the fundamental epistemological questions. Process philosophers must confront this question and either accept one perspective or the other or else they must show how both perspectives are identical or can be synthesized. It will be helpful to utilize the Fragments of Heraclitus as a background for confronting this question. It would be a gross over-simplification and over-interpretation of Process Philosophy and of Heraclitus if one imagined that the former is a return of Heraclitus in twentieth century garb.