Abstract
If cognitive science is the science of cognition, what is cognition? Whitehead’s answer is drawn directly from his fundamental ontology: cognition is a special form of what he calls ‘prehension,’ taking more particular forms in conscious perception, thought, imagination and other psychological processes.
I wish to express my appreciation for the late John D. Goheen of Stanford University. I first studied Whitehead’s metaphysics in a course taught by Professor Goheen, and the image of ‘prehension’ has stayed with me for three decades. In recent years the image has emerged, with a life of its own, in the very practical needs of the PACIS database project of Ontek Corporation. I thank Charles W. Dement of Ontek for many discussions of Whitehead’s ontology and its role in prefiguring the ontology of PACIS. My thanks finally to Liliana Albertazzi for inviting me to write this paper, in a sense for seeing its need.
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Smith, D.W. (2001). Consciousness and Actuality in Whiteheadian Ontology. In: Albertazzi, L. (eds) The Dawn of Cognitive Science. Synthese Library, vol 295. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9656-5_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9656-5_15
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