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Whitehead: I imagine a pet turtle

 


Whitehead called his own view of the cosmos "the philosophy of organism."

Over the nearly-a-century since he wrote the book on it, though, the name has become cemented as "process philosophy". That has also given rise to such related terms as "process theology." Nobody seems to say "philosophy of organism." 

In the early going of his book, PROCESS AND REALITY, Whitehead quotes a Latin phrase he attributes to Augustine. He does not assist with an English translation.

Securus judicat orbis terrarium.  I thought for a second it meant that Augustine had a turtle residing securely in his terrarium and that the turtle was getting judgmental. So I thought, "why would one name a pet turtle Orbis?" Hence the image for this blog post. But no, the Latin phrase means: "the whole world judges rightly."  Don't put yourself in a position of saying "the whole rest of the world, but for me and my small cult, is wrong." Judgments are secured by the terrestrial orb. Augustine used this notion against the Donatists of his day. 

Whitehead uses it against the idea that metaphysical speculation is useless. It has had a use, he says, allowing for progress as "one idea after another is tried out, its limitations defined, and its core of truth elicited." Though Whitehead is sparing with examples in this passage, I will give him one,  Even Descartes' ideas about matter helped give the world analytical geometry, which has proved valuable. So the speculative enterprise has proved valuable -- something securus by the judicat of the whole orbis.  

Further, Whitehead says, we don't have any choice but to proceed with metaphysical speculation, because "there are no brute, self-contained matters of fact, capable of being understood apart from interpretation as an element in a system." Satisfaction with the self-contained matters of fact is, in Whitehead's view, what Francis Bacon and others has offered in the place of metaphysical speculation, what ought to replace it.  

But, as you can see, Whitehead considers that idea a non-starter.  


 

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