A Whiteheadian Aesthetic
A Whiteheadian Aesthetic
A Whiteheadian Aesthetic
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Whiteheadian Aesthetic
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A
WHITEHEADIAN
AESTHETIC
Some
By
DONALD W. SHERBURNE
with a foreword by F.
New
S.
C. Northrop
Press,
1961
the William
McKean
Acknowledgments
With
visions,
this
book
is
re-
in partial fulfillment of
My
my
is
great, as
is
Acknowledgments
vi
the
many
Glasgow
at
Yale when
time.
Though
certain points,
I
I
owe
his scholarship
and
insight.
He
my
manuscript and
offered
at Yale,
office
making
and
interest
knowledge
space
Whitehead's metaphysics
is
of,
many
is
deeply
appreciated.
An
is
stronger as a result of
for the
Yale Press,
skillfully
I
would
that "philosophy
I
offer this
Finally,
book
I
is
never finished,
it is
onlv suspended."
acknowledge
my
greatest debt
to
my
wife,
en-
Acknowledgments
vii
Donald W. Sherburne
Nashville, Tennessee
December i960
Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
xi
Foreword by F.
S.
C. Northrop
xxx
Abbreviations
Part
I.
Systematic Framework
i.
Introduction
2.
11.
in.
Creativity
9
10
Eternal Objects
25
God
35
Concrescence
3.
I.
II.
xiii
Origin of Subjective
Phase
Phase
41
Aims
of Concrescence
41
46
49
iv.
Concrescence
Conceptual Reversion
Transmutation
Phase III of Concrescence
v.
Phase IV of Concrescence
62
Satisfaction
69
in.
vi.
4.
Some
1.
II.
II of
51
53
55
72
72
82
Symbolic Reference
ix
Contents
Part
5.
Aesthetic Theory
II.
An
Introduction to the
Aesthetic Theory
6.
The
1.
11.
in.
Aesthetic Object
Ontological Status
98
102
Psychical Distance
107
108
The Performer
H3
Arts
91
98
Aesthetic Experience
128
*34
Cobb's Theory
Weaknesses of Cobb's Theory
*35
in.
The
142
iv.
1.
11.
v.
8.
11.
in.
iv.
10.
Ulteriority
and Transmutation
160
161
Artistic Expression
167
Croce
God and
170
180
Truth
Artistic Creation
in Art
The Function
185
of Art
*93
195
199
201
Conclusion
203
1.
11.
in.
11.
138
Beauty
Artistic Creation
1.
9.
Bibliography
207
Index
213
Figures
i.
Phases of Concrescence
56
2.
Transmutation
58
3.
Reversion in
4.
Reversion in Subject
61
5.
66
6.
67
7.
68
8.
Nexus
75
Datum
60
Foreword
by
F. S. C.
Northrop
Whitehead's prose
is
Upon a
artificial. With
paradoxical.
seems to be unnecessarily
first
reading
it
later readings,
however, one awakes of a sudden with the startling realization that for almost the
first
time one
To
We
read
and
is
in the concrete.
suppose that
we
is
to realize why.
which
is
sionistic
its
correlate, acts
upon the
aesthetically impres-
common
images
signify.
What we
believe
we
see
is,
therefore, always
and our
To
is
obviously to
commit an error. Kant called this error "dogmatic slumbering." Whitehead calls it the "fallacy of misplaced concreteness" or "the confusion of an entity of thought with a
That
this
is
an
error,
Foreword
xiv
Who
Tom,
of one's friend
sequent images that one has inferred the wrong person and
that the successive impressions signify a complete stranger
instead.
tains
it
Nor
is
as a prevalent
Any courtroom
phenomenon. Whenever
con-
several direct
rare indeed
is
it
they "saw."
liars.
calls
Of
But the
course in
some
cases there
real difficulty in
may be
deliberate
the "facts of the case" does not arise solely from the
is
calls
7
.
is
is
allowed to stand.
What
is
is
required
competent
the court and the jury from what the witness says he saw,
let us say
the defendant
is
Tom
Tom
If
its
being
thrown on the witness' statement of what he "saw." If, on the other hand, the witness
describes certain details of the images which are peculiar
someone
else,
then doubt
to the images of
examination
is
Tom
is
testimony.
Foreword
xv
scientific
and philosoph-
which they think they see are the result of errors of mistaken identity. Then, under the delusion that they are describing the concrete facts of their experience which the
senses give them directly, they have identified both themselves and their universe with nonexistent entities and objects.
we do more than
harm
ourselves.
having
made
We also
arise solely
from
to the signified entity of thought, thereby quite unintentionally affirming a falsehood while supposing
is
harm
also the
one
is
merely
which
to oneself
for
aesthetic,
its
own
refreshment.
crete aesthetic
entities of
spirit
thus of the
nature's con-
about dead
Robbed
own and
human
shirt,
common-sense platitudes
thought that
refer to
nothing concrete
To
Whitehead with
from
this prevalent
is
to
and
unfortunate condition.
Even
so,
the escape
is
is
in one-
Foreword
xvi
self rather
The
confusion of
moving impressionistic
and continuum of one's immediate experience
would not be so prevalent were there not some unconscious,
previously conditioned habit of thought in us which has
been corrupting both our thinking and our conduct. By
going behind the countless abstract nouns in our ordinary
language, Whitehead and other competent contemporary
students of the relations between words and the sources
of their meaning have located one major source of this
colorful
qualities
trouble.
It
is
the subject-predicate
grammar
of English
is
the
artificial
thing positively,
it
conventional nitwit
who
we
unconsciously
Foreword
xvii
theories
and
in the discourse
and aesthetic
literary
how
help us to see
be modified so
poli-
if
we
use a par-
it
falsely
To
My
summers
New
"blue."
my
he
senses to ask
nor anyone
me what
the word
could
him.
else
tell
If
did,
which
it is
concerned.
If,
is
primarily
and
for themselves
jects or
we could
may
or
may not
signify,
is
then
like this
Foreword
xviii
But
this
impressionistic
artist.
Art in
human
sensuous
inferences
initially
and
is
Tom.
when
move
in
thought be-
F. S. C. Northrop,
(New
2.
it
common
The Logic
of the Sciences
9.
most
serious
Foreword
errors.
xix
language
I
am
"blue" part of
my
breath-taking
New Hampshire experience by thinking and say"The water in Squam Lake is blue." Note what has hap-
panoramic
ing,
pened.
this
continuum, to fasten
"The water
But
of
serious danger.
By
to an
I
The
it
is
not there.
is
signifies
most
I
can
"the
water of
serious
woods to the lake for a swim and, before plunging in, cup
up a handful of its water to observe that it is not blue but
clear and colorless. Then if I do not watch most suspiciously
the substance-property
strait jacket of
my
English gram-
do the following to
Thomas, many modern
scientists and philosophers, and countless people of common sense: I run the risk, since the blue must be the property of some substance, if the subject-predicate grammar of
any Aryan language is to have its way, of saying, "The water
of Squam Lake only appeared to be blue, when I was in my
cottage on the hilltop; it is really clear and colorless." Forthmatical habit of thought,
me,
as
with
ties
it
all
of
it is
likely to
St.
be assigned to the phantasmic limbo of apentity of thought called a material substance, bereft of consciousness and all emotive or
aesthetic qualities, arises in one's mind to be taken not
merely as the only real thing in my experience, but also as
real things to
pearances.
xx
Foreword
the
initial
datum
ences from
terialist
my
of
experience before
made any
infer-
it.
make
correct inferences
from
artists are
regarded as effeminate
real
minded contemporary Hobbesian lawyers and statesmen, such as Mr. Acheson and
the late Mr. Dulles in the free world and the similarly
materialistic Marxist Communists who believe that a realthings,
istic
and the
materialistically
own
can be built on
little
as
better hardware,
statesmen
who
are
But the
grammar has
end
led these
at this point.
concretely real
material substances,
me
why
subject-predicate
leading
arises: If
the
is
grammar
to infer
still
saw from
is
fol-
is
Squam
is
attached as
its
known supposedly
introspec-
Foreword
forced to say,
usual
xxi
"My
way
which
scribe
perience
is
blue."
The
predicament in
to get out
have placed myself by using English prose to de-
of this nonsensical
me
is
upon
my
this
moral and
religious platitudes
itual nature.
ituality
Nor
about
is
and then
its
utter vacuous
equally
empty
spir-
a spir-
and morality?
are the so-called humanists
who
prattle today
about
is
literature, or,
all
is
either
media of communication.
any concretely known
artist to say or
To
What
human
there
is
of significance in
grammar
Foreword
xxii
foist
under such cross-examination in our ordinary language without its subject-predicate grammar falsifying the facts of the
this is our most difficult
case in the very statement of them
problem. Whitehead's method of solving it determined the
When
available pro-
which
will
what we
its
danger of
it.
The
dis-
theo-
competent contemporary philosopher uses the second procedure, checking it by appeal to the first. Whitehead's
competence as a mathematician, symbolic logician, and
philosophical analyst of concrete experience was such that
in his different articles and books he used both methods. It
is likely that one of the mathematical possibles listed in his
earlier 1905 paper, "On Mathematical Concepts of the
Material World," 3 is the metaphysical system which was
stated in his technically modified English prose in Process
and Reality.
Each procedure has
its
An
Foreword
xxiii
and
chosen, can
it
fit itself
if
properly
and what
distortion.
The danger
is
logical
The
First, as is obvious, it
are,
however, twofold.
prose. Second,
its
and
their
many-termed
relations, designated
by
be
verified
show
us
how
to do
Foreword
xxiv
this
is
much
to the reader's
more
is
and
is
not, as subject-predicate
grammar
many
variables
supposes, of merely
it is supposed to be
need to find either an
unaesthetic material substance or an unaesthetic mental
substance to which to fasten the blue which I sensed vanishes; also the necessity of throwing aesthetic immediacy
out of oneself and nature vanishes along with it.
But since ordinary prose requires one to fasten every
property to some subject term, how can one express in this
prose the concrete fact that the blue which I directly
sense is a function of many variables, i.e. whether the sun
is shining, whether there are clouds in the sky, where I am
located when I sense it and many other factors. The answer,
and this is the answer which Whitehead gives, is by making
the subject of the English sentence not a substance, but
a many-termed relation of which the blue is but one of
the terms. This has the effect of stating in English prose
that the blue is not the property of a substance, i.e. it is
not a function of only one variable, but is instead a func-
a predicate.
tion of
Once
this
many variables
crete experience
is
realized, the
signify.
This
The Concept
the point of
is
Nature which,
more than any other, is, in this writer's judgment, the key
to Whitehead's entire philosophy. This key thesis is that
sense objects such as blue "ingress" into nature in manytermed relations. An example of such ingression, similar to
my concrete New Hampshirian example, he describes as
follows:
"The sense-awareness
certain event
which
call
of
the situation,
is
exhibited
Foreword
xxv
vening events."
When
he commented to
me on
somewhat
between the concretely sensed blue and other concrete entities and events of our experience soon after he
had written it in the early 1920's, he said that he chose
this word for two reasons: First, in the hope that its unfamiliarity would shock the reader out of his habit of sup-
relation
we
rela-
guity of the
word "ingression"
and
effect of throw-
phantasms.
The
aesthetic
noun
implications
is
are
obvious.
In
many-
versity Press,
Foreword
xxvi
is
human
now-Da-ness of
and concerns
a linguistically confused
is
same
experiences
and romantically
direction. It
is
confused
It
dominated
still
is
it is
under the obsession of the pseudo-creativity of selfmental substances or spirits, a creativity which is
still
sufficient
which
it
proceeds
is
guide
spiritual consciousness
from
no
relational
norms whatever to
it.
its
re-
aesthetically vivid
and breath-taking events, the realities rather than the phantasmic ephemeral projections of ourselves and our world,
we are in a position to pass to the more correctly inferred
5.
F.
S.
ff.
West (New
York,
Foreword
entities of
These
xxvii
realities signify.
many-termed
rela-
the beautiful.
and abstract
The
art
is
that, like
Whitehead
But, as
Whitehead
and meanings beyond themselves, even though these objects and meanthetic concrete particulars signify objects
this
aesthetic
6.
note
1,
No.
4,
1941.
9,
Foreword
xxviii
Mary
dicated recently by
title
A.
of
Wyman
which
is
in her book,
a phrase of
The
White-
head's.
that, unless
theory of
art.
now
a position
The
results
own
like
it.
Some
in the study of
7.
in
Whitehead's book on
much
way
and
aesthetics,
of us, however,
reflection
Library, i960.
We
may
perhaps best
then
is
at least very
who have
spent decades
it
for Feeling,
New
bc-
York, Philosophical
Foreword
xxix
means
of par-
Abbreviations
American
by the Macmillan Company, with the exception of PNK and RM, where the Cambridge editions are
cited, and FR, where the pagination of the Beacon Press paperback edition is followed. Special permission to quote extended
passages from Whitehead has been granted by the Macmillan
Company and the Cambridge University Press.
All page references to Whitehead's works are to the
editions, published
AI
PNK
PR
Process
FR
MT
and
Reality,
RM
1929
Religion in the Making, 1926
SMW
Modern World,
1925
1919
Part
SYSTEMATIC FRAMEWORK
Introduction
when
Clarification
of this procedure
is
crucial;
otherwise the
reader may feel that he has two books: one about Whitehead and one about aesthetics.
In examining the language of religious expression Whitehead writes: "it is impossible to fix the sense of fundamental
terms except by reference to some definite metaphysical
way of conceiving the most penetrating description of the
universe." As an example he warns that "in expressing our
conception of God, words such as 'personal' and 'imper-
use
them
failing to use
is
my
we should
them
in
(RM
66). It
Systematic Framework
The
why
reason, then,
account.
Also, the presupposition of
my
is
study
aphysical theory.
When
is
that clarity
and
when
the
achieved only
grounded in a met-
important
philosophical theory
is
it
insight
and
discovery.
One
be
logically
Part
II of this
book
is
with them
Reflections
1958), p.
xii.
it
it
operates success-
on Art
(Baltimore,
Johns
Hopkins
University
Press,
Introduction
plicable
its
'applicable'
interpretation, ap-
(PR
tion"
4).
are
no items incapable
By showing
of such interpreta-
is
in-
satisfied
it is
fruitful to
II will
contribute
way the
it
originates,
on
aesthetics
II is
not a
about
art
and
aesthetics.
It
is,
rather,
my own
creative
and
his
own
aesthetic
little
to indicate
how
IV
"Whitehead now
Lowe
Systematic Framework
his systematic
background."
am
its
count
it
'humanistic'
Whitehead
What
mark
a favorable
is
repaid
is
for
my
own
II of this
is
not the
the function of
art,
sidering only
2.
some
The Philosophy of
New York, Tudor
in
many
Munro (Towards
Science in Aesthetics,
New
Thomas
1956, p. 140) has cited the following definition of esthetique which appeared as recently as 1947 in Andre Lalande's Vocabulaire technique et
critique de la philosophie (Paris): "Science ayant
pour objet
le
du Beau
et
jugement
du Laid"
(The science having for its object value judgments insofar as they discriminate between the beautiful and the ugly). Munro goes on to note
(p. 262): "To define 'the beautiful' correctly, and give a true account
of its nature and criteria, was commonly regarded as the sole or central
task of aesthetics.
The concept no longer holds a central, pred'appreciation en tant qu'il s'applique a la distinction
eminent position
obvious.
Aesthetics
scope of the
a
in aesthetics as a whole.
.
phenomena which
it
Some
the great
of
interrelate
and
'aesthetic
cate-
gories,'
do so
diversity
."
One
its
It
is
my
implications
contention that
more generally accepted, sense of the term Whitehead has not himself worked out the implications for aesthetics of his
metaphysical system. This I attempt to do in Part II, below.
in the broader, today
Introduction
And
Whitehead provides
very
little
in
guidance, usually
of
me to be
profound or suggestive. Whitehead himself calls for
application of his metaphysics: "it must be one of the
either
this
aesthetic,
which have their origin in natural science" (PR vi) Whitehead himself, in Religion in the Making, has brought the
.
Edmund
Thompson
Jabez
will
of this
book
is
essentially
II.
Yet
an introduction to the
in reading
Whitehead with
thetic theory,
anticipations of
how
can stand on
its
own
certain
hope, never-
feet as a study of
system
though
I.
Two
First, it
was
later.
Secondly,
it
An
Analysis of the
Good and
Thought
of
Chicago
Press,
1935.
Systematic Framework
metaphysical useful-
its
instances where
human
demonstrate inconsistency
to rework the
White-
maximum
demonstrated applicability. In
my own
broadening of the
The
thesis
ability of
made by Whitehead,
is
This thesis
makes
it, I
ties
it
remains primarily.
2.
The
is
an
White-
equivalently,
or,
at the heart of
is
what
is
a basic tenet of
no agency
Actual
really real.
is
Whitefrom
in abstraction
actual occasions,
agency. It
its
constituted by
existence;
This
its
is
its
agency, or process;
process,
its
its
becoming.
very being
No
process,
is
no
is
no
process.
is
For purposes of
who
At
The unique
is
analysis,
distinguished
is
entities.
PR
God is
God from
when
discussion
2.
See
PR
its
is
its
scope."
He
The term
'actual occasion'
also notes,
PR
119, that
."
.
27-28, 36-37.
some
Systematic Framework
io
as the
God.
It
element considered.
Creativity
I.
My
analysis of
Whitehead's doctrine of
creativity
is
im-
To
is
summary
relevant:
by now so familiar
the stream of the inner life, and the definite
with
of an aspect of
crystallised shapes
is
on the surface
the big
artist,
the
where
and, diving
a
The
"crystallised shapes
rational structures,
and
on the surface"
artistic creation
is,
are,
of course,
for Bergson, a
with
3.
it"
See
(PR
RM
which
vii).
rightly or
An
77-78.
it
is
11
Whitehead does in
3 of this book
examine
Whitehead's genetic analysis of conscious intellection, an analysis following from the doctrine
of creativity, and Chapter 8 will present a theory of artistic
creation based on, not opposed to, that analysis of conscious
intellection and the components on which it depends.
Consequently, the aesthetic theory that emerges from
Whitehead's process philosophy is very different from that
which emerges from Bergson's process philosophy. An
will
in detail
is,
then, crucial
but also for insight into the aesthetic theory that can be
drawn out of
I
his categories.
will preface
my own
summary
he neatly
relates
Whitehead
is
to
plementation before a clear picture emerges of how Whitehead is refining the Bergsonian doctrine of flux.
Leclerc's approach to the problem of creativity begins
with an identification of the category of "actual entity"
with the traditional concept of ovaia, "that which is." Tracing Leclerc's main arguments will introduce the concept
of an actual occasion and reveal the sense in which this
concept presupposes creativity as a formative element. 5
Since each particular rendering of "that which
is"
be
it
Whitehead's thought.
Systematic Framework
12
context of
its
which
is
is,"
analysis
step-by-step
painstaking,
Leclerc undertakes
how Whitehead
of
is
it
arbitrarily
must be causa
sui;
moment
of
its
it
." 7
it,
Whitehead
same
suppos-
sees that
must be
be avoided, but instead
characteristic to God alone, he assigns it
causa sui
if
an
infinite regress
of assigning this
is
to
actual entities
is
an
entity.
is
also
6.
Ibid.,
7.
From
8.
Ibid., pp.
9.
Ibid., p. 74.
is
pp. 53-59.
Descartes' Third Meditation; quoted
71-78.
ibid., p. 65.
13
becoming there
is
the becoming
is
correspond to
it
is
di-
becoming which
the extensive divisibility of what has
and
later acts of
is
is
extensive,
but that
act of
come
not at
totally or
To summarize
real, is
all."
10
many; there
are
many
is,
the really
is
causa
sui, is
by virtue of
coming
This
its
is itself
all
is
."
which
'extensive'
really
is,
prepares the
creativity as a formative
way
for a
what that
discussion of
cat-
Given
10.
at
PR
of James'
can be viewed as
Some Problems
of Philosophy,
Systematic Framework
14
first
principles,
and
already been
is
has
it
that a
is
that
something
like Spinozistic
from
one really real substance for differentiating itself into modes; they follow from no such necessity
but simply from the need for philosophers to account for
change. Whitehead's pluralism enables him to avoid this
sort of incoherence, which I shall refer to as vertical incoherence, because he has attributed "act," or "power" to
each actual entity, so that there is no reason to appeal to a
modes,
any necessity
in the
The
I
on-goingness
question
is,
of
commitment
a reason inherent in
fail
its
involve what
Does not the
own
first
principles,
why any
its
dynamic
only to
slip into
horizontal incoherence.
It is
asked because
15
herence as
cre-
ativity
incoherent.
ativity,
shall
and
what
(p.
my own
finally present
be crucial
find to
in
exposition of
Whitehead's doctrine of
crea-
tivity.
Leclerc writes:
Whitehead
actualities,
multiplicity
its
own
exists as)
(i.e.
is
activity.
an
Each
'act of
individual
becoming', and
of
coming' by virtue of
actuality
conceives
therefore
which
generic to
is
out of a process of
arises
all.
is,
Each
activity
is
thus an
In saying this
as
it is
by the generic
no
'matter' apart
there
is
entities
The
'activity'
as, in
a materialistic theory,
12
.
individual
-known
no
is
tualities, in
tivity.
activity.
is
an ultimate which
instances.
"In
passage:
ultimate which
is
Leclerc
all
quotes
WTiiteheacTs
actual in virtue of
its
accidents. It
its
crea-
is
only in
exists
is
its
wellis
is
an
only
accidental
devoid of
Systematic Framework
16
actuality."
13
trine:
What
requisite,
is
Whitehead maintains,
is
to recog-
is
not conceived as
itself
an actual
entity:
is
That
is
to say,
it
all
the
is
generic activity conceived in abstraction from the individual instantiations of that activity. This 'ultimate',
this generic activity of self-creation,
'creativity'.
This
is
Whitehead terms
14
doctrine, but in
its
brevity
it is
that
first,
metaphysical character of
he has described
" 'Creativity'
it
is
it
therefore
is
'ul-
all actualities;
and secondly
it is
the 'ultimate' in the sense that the actualities are individualizations of it"
(p. 86).
abstraction of a
tualities; in
merely a
In the
common
first
activity
sense creativity
common
is
an
however, "not
actualities,
instances"
(p. 86).
as
actualities
are
though] not
The
term "transcending" in
tivity
is
this
[al-
ultimate) which
is
Whitehead continues
Leclerc, p. 84.
meaning
for the
itself
in this passage
is
termed
first,
ab-
'creativity'
."
.
17
straction-of-a-common-activity, sense
is
ultimate). Leclerc
is
(in
which
creativity
is
discernable
If,
common
timate', there
itself
feature.
is
as
somehow 'more
real'
it
than the
'ul-
as
in-
The second
alternative appears to
Whitehead
alternative
the
first
is
might seem to
is
incoherent, this
But
open to the charge of
it
it
in-
The
system, of course,
is
when Whitehead's
is
full
The key
meaning
is
grasped,
Systematic Framework
18
vertical incoherence.
The weakness
is
of Leclerc's analysis
meant by
is
tion of "transcending"
which is why his conclusion is
both correct and unsatisfying. Whitehead achieves coherence, he writes (p. 87),
by conceiving the
is
not
itself actual,
thus
is
but
Thus
is
And
'ultimate' character
its
The
is
individual actual
They
creativity
is
is
a 'creator',
i.e.
itself a
This statement
correct
and
makes
it
right
is
not specified
and
Reality
is
but doesn't
really
fills
will
rationalizes, the
indicate
how Whitehead
Bergsonian doctrine of
refines,
flux.
This analysis consists primarily of unpacking the tremendously compact passages that constitute Whitehead's
description of the Category of the Ultimate
He
(PR
31-32).
19
'many/ 'one' are the ultimate notions inmeaning of the synonymous terms
'thing/ 'being/ 'entity.' These three notions complete
the Category of the Ultimate and are presupposed in
'Creativity/
volved
all
The
the
in
ultimate
is
31]
which "thinghood"
is
[PR
is
an
itself
an
creativity a thing or
it is
a cluster of
terms of
creativity, in
is
intelligible notion.
entity;
it
is
Neither
a principle, a char-
15
It expresses
the
relationship
In the
instance creativity
first
is
by
which the many, which are the universe disjunctively, become the one actual occasion, which is the universe concrete togetherness. Creativity "is that ultimate principle
(PR
junctively"
more simply:
31).
Whitehead
many;
it is
just
(PR
an ultimate
31).
The
many
universe abhors a
cannot
"An
is
actual occasion
is
a novel
from any entity in the 'many' which it uniAs the principle of novelty, creativity guarantees that the entity which emerges from the concrescing
activity whereby the universe overcomes its abhorrence of
entity diverse
fies"
(PR
"many"
many
15.
31
is
itself
entities
"The
which
category
it
synthesizes"
[Category]
32).
among the
Thus to as-
of Explanation,
(PR
more
special categories
the general
[of Existence,
Systematic Framework
20
is
to introduce a dis-
But
itself,
di-
as a unity, a disjunctive
element over against the elements it has unified: it has increased the disjunction by one. In this sequence is contained the basic rhythm of process. On-goingness
sured; to assuage
assuagement.
tive diversity
is
The
is
as-
is
demanding
The
alterna-
everlasting.
manner productive
which are
rhythm
of process
(MT
120).
fact"
is
The
notions "one," "many," and "creativity" are the metaphysically ultimate notions,
(PR
32), in terms of
which the notion of a "thing," "being," or "entity" is rendered intelligible. Mathematician that he is, Whitehead is
fully aware that a deductive system, be it mathematical or
metaphysical,
requires
certain
basic,
ultimate
concepts
The
"The
sole appeal
tions firmly
is
to intuition"
ground on-goingness
(PR
32).
21
is
no
At the same time they in no way constitute a covert regression to monism, since the fully actual entities of the
system are the individual occasions that emerge with each
pulsation of the rhythmic flux between "many" and "one."
Each individual among the "many" and each "one" that
emerges are
all alike
is
matter of fact"
(PR
which
is
it
many
entities.
must not be conceived as individually wholly independent and separate, merely superseding each other. Each
is a creature of the creativity which proceeds perpetually
tities
to
new
creations." It
is
now
is
a perpetual
them
together.
still
what
on Whitebe an over-
further light
I
(p.
feel
to
distinguished
is
'
I
Systematic Framework
22
"microscopic
species
is
first
process"
tion."
Having made
remarks
(p. 81):
is
we must,
in
examining the
emphasis
just this
process
is
in such a
why
way
raises
the spec-
basically
way
it
that there
occasions. Leclerc
is
two
he does not adequately show how
how Whitehead's
shall
now make
explicit
Whitehead
junction"
(PR
32). It
is
23
from time to time in the exposition of his system Whitehead wishes to call attention, for purposes of analysis, to
one or the other aspect of creativity, for they can be separated in thought although not in fact. Thus when he wishes
to emphasize that " 'creativity' introduces novelty into the
content of the many, which are the universe disjunctively"
(PR 31-32), he speaks of macroscopic process, of the
"creative advance," and of the movement from faded actual
occasions to fresh actual occasions. 'The macroscopic
process is the transition from attained actuality to actuality
in attainment" (PR 326). On the other hand, when he
wishes to emphasize the coming together of the disjunctively diverse universe and the mutual accommodation of
these diversities as they merge into one harmonious togetherness, he speaks of microscopic process, of the origin
and mode of growth of the emerging actual occasion: "the
microscopic process is the conversion of conditions which
are merely real into determinate actuality" (PR 326).
Macroscopic process emphasizes transition; microscopic
process emphasizes growth. "The former process effects the
transition from the 'actual' to the 'merely real'; and the latter process effects the growth from the real to the actual"
(PR 326-27). But ontologically speaking, transition and
growth are faces of the same coin. In fact, then, for Whitehead microscopic and macroscopic process are equally
fundamental as features of that which is really real, since
at bottom they are inseparable, though distinguishable.
Consequently horizontal incoherence is avoided, as ongoingness
is
way
ity is
an entity or thing at
that there
is
all.
By borrowing
Systematic Framework
24
clerc
have put
this
head rationalizes the Bergsonian doctrine of flux. Commenting on Whitehead and his system, Newton P. Stallknecht writes:
He
brilliant
tive
finite individual.
monism
of constant creation.
a tem-
16
have
Whitehead
'all
writes that
phrase,
things'"
(PR
317). It
is
world
is
is,
new transcendent
be
it,
in
16.
Chapter
Newton
8.
P.
Stallknecht,
Studies
in
the
Philosophy
of
Creation
25
Eternal Objects
11.
The second
objects. It
essential in
is
them
what they
art
3,
is
an
it
Chapter
either
3 or
is
particularly to the
7,
v of that chapter.
"A
and
colour
it
is
goes.
eternal. It
But where
haunts time
it
comes,
wanted"
(SMW
Whitehead
it
like a spirit. It
it is
live.
(PR
It
32).
comes
appears
when
it
is
88).
also writes:
"Any
entity
whose conceptual
Each
(PR
temporal world
is
called
an
70).
it must assume
by
it does
creatively deciding
which eternal objects it will allow and which it will not
allow to ingress into its concrescence. Whereas the change
involved in the coming-to-be of an actual occasion is one
ity, is
an
activity,
Systematic Framework
26
with
its
from change
in that
it is
But
becoming which
is
is
which
is
Whitehead
conceived
'participation')
as
exemplifying
ingression
(or
The
the
which are
eternal.
[PR
63]
realized'
with
'actuality'.
The
are 'pure
insists:
These
potentialities
Whitehead's Metaphysics,
p. 97.
are the
'eternal
objects.'
27
and
'potentiality'
The
'givenness,' there
can be
by
in process of supersession
alternative
is
a static monistic
is
of
is
An
species and
adumbration
required to
make
During
its
its
Its
public side
is
dipolar.
its
is
its
private
by being an element
at
one end or
metaphorically speak-
is,
The
crucial question
now
is,
can
at the public,
or external
internal
they cannot.
An
first
mode
[i.e.
at the public
Systematic Framework
28
The
form.
solidarity of the
world
rests
upon the
in-
[PR 445-46]
Whitehead goes on
to say:
They
how
determine
it
A member
of the
446).
He
which
ness of an emotion
perience of
ties
(PR
A" (PR
is
a subjective
form
in the ex-
But although
in their primary
end of
a prehension, they
into a characteristic of a
actual
occasion,
and
Concrete examples
as
will
datum
may be transmuted
now be
relationships.
boy and
his father
Herein
lies
datum
of their
same geometric
two prehensions is
it is
ception of
it.
is
this objective
datum
via a subjective
jects of
29
via a subjec-
respect.
their initial
datum
the same.
is
second example
more complicated
street
in
cell at
the
him.
door
jail
Anger
species.
man
is
con-
in that
mob. The mob is the datum for the murderer and he transmutes 18 this eternal object, i.e. anger, present in all the
mob
19
The mob
is
is
now
from
its
as objectified
eternal object
functioning objec-
murderer by means
of each of the
character of objectivity. It
is
is
mem-
secondary
murderer.
it
this activity of
prehension finds
its
primary exemplification
Transmutation
18.
19. See
PR
become
Systematic Framework
-p
in the preconscious,
sions.
the
moment
all
among
The
themselves.
if
Whitehead
20. A.
this
apparent paradox
is
to be resolved.
writes:
H. Johnson,
in
his
extremely comprehensive
article.
"White-
both modes and concluding that all eternal objects can appear in
both modes. The most casual reading of PR 445-46 will reveal the inadequacy of Johnson's analysis for example, "the solidarity of the world
in
rests
objectivity
of
this
species
of eternal
objects."
is
31
mutual
ness which
The realm
related-
is
of eternal objects
properly described as a
is
its
status in
this
ness.
[SMW
161]
other eternal
all
some degree
casion.
Since
all
themselves
all
all
eternal objects.
included,
"is to
i.e.
be conceived
of limitation can be
tion"
(SMW
162).
as a limitation;
still
Not
a,
mutually incompatible
is
and
a.
actual occasion
.
this process
many
and the
activity
the decision by a of
object will be to
Any
a.
coming of a
oc-
how
which
is
the be-
it
of
all
eternal
to eternal objects
letters
and
jS
will
be used to refer
Systematic Framework
32
its
is
internally related to
own
all
The
and
eternal objects
by specifying
This it does by
definiteness only
its
its
ac-
relation-
limiting, or
concrescence.
its
aesthetic synthesis.
22
(1)
how
this relationship
is
an
(SMW
web
is
In addition to
its
among
eternal objects.
considered as adding
is
its
own unique
contribution to
is
iden-
identical self.
But
modes
all
it
varies
By
of ingression
is
just
the word "aesthetic" in this context Whitehead means to emphahe is speaking of the actual occasion formaliter, i.e. as it is in
its own immediate experience. See PR 81. He writes
(PR 427), "an
actual fact is a fact of aesthetic experience," and also (PR 426), "An
." "Aesthetic" is not being used
intense experience is an aesthetic fact
here in the narrow sense it will have in Part II, below.
22.
size that
33
[SMW
ingression.
When
mode
the
when
modes
is
that of
maximum
"A"
inclusion of
for a
is
at
"A"
"A"
maxi-
its
mum,
some
gredient in
actual occasion
"A"
is
ex-
p.
It is in virtue
jects that
its
in-
/3
cluded from
of
159]
by actual occasion a
in a,
its
(SMW
lated,
165).
He
stipulates:
"The
(SMW
23
This "depends on the fact that
165 ).
the relational essence of an eternal object is not unique to
essences"
that object"
(SMW
makes
of an eternal object
of the
how
some
of
eternal object
The
relational essence
a particular determination
to a definite finite
number n
of other
objects,
X X
x
2,
n,
[SMW
165]
The
is
togetherness
is
is
in
respect to
some
(SMW
165).
Systematic Framework
34
component of the relational essence of each shade and each figure, and binds all the
shades and all the figures together internally, but these
"how"
relationship
is
parallelogram.
The
relational
vis-a-vis
figure
is
not unique to
as that of
is
turjet
quite
togetherness of
a very different
sort of togetherness
is
this
discussion
in
jects
which
is
and
The
in process of
becoming,
is,
in
of possibility ensures
makes such
relational
that each
35
God
God
poses
it
is
God
Systematic Framework
36
and po-
tentiality,
there be such an
comments
entity"
(SMW
manner
174).
The
following
system
itself lapses
in
into incoherence.
Whitehead
must be the
"God
emplification"
(PR
521).
The
of Chapter
He
is
sense in which
made
is
metaphysical prin-
all
case:
God
is
"their
explicit in section
3.
its
that this
mode
(PR
32).
of existence
ontological principle,
Whitehead
writes:
entity.'
retains
which
it
its
is
must be somewhere;
since
This
'proximate
relevance'
where'
is
Thus
'prox-
mind
of God.[']
[PR
73]
The system
requires
God
37
in the
first
But God
more
plays a far
by
itself.
more
how
possible
it is
actual entities.
Whitehead
asks:
What
press
is
its
some
can be expressed
ontological principle
togetherness
is
among
must
ex-
forms.
The
All
real
as:
of an actuality. So
temporal world
if
is
there be a relevance of
what in the
must ex-
of a non-temporal actuality.
[PR
48]
of general relationships
among
web
and this
formal aspect of God. Whiteeternal objects,
real togetherness
must be
head makes
"The
this
relationships of diversity
ships
in
and of pattern,
God's conceptual
realization, there
nonentity"
(PR
is
mere
realization.
Apart from
isolation indistinguishable
this
from
392).
the
web
of relationships constituted
The
system that
God links
identical with
related-
Whitehead's
web
is
is
by the internal
11
Systematic Framework
38
all
some degree
all
eternal objects, in
(SMW
160).
The
following passage
is
web
of relationships con-
The
in the world,
inefficient disjunc-
conjunction
of
ideal
realization.
... By
Apart
complete
dis-
The
[PR 63-64]
conclusion
emerges
that
the
three
formative
pendence.
The
39
God's primordial
it
dynamic surge
of the
not simply
but also the primordial valuation of
pure potentials which generates the relevance of each pure
potential to each instance of concrescent process. But it
should not be inferred that God creates eternal objects in
his primordial valuation; here also there is mutual interdecreativity into novel concrescence presupposes
a realm of possibility
God
is
them
same
in the
an exemplification of
(PR
But
entity."
it
is
24
which
God, presupposes
Chapter
is
definiteness;
creativity
God,
presupposes
God
more
will
even in
precise sense in
emerge
in
hence
pri-
its
which
section
of
3.
It takes pistons, a
some
fuel to re-
If any of
no dynamic system. Remove
the sparking device or the fuel and you still have pistons,
but pistons resting inert in their casings are lifeless and
pointless when compared to the vibrating, thrusting pistons
of a dynamic system. Likewise, eternal objects in the
"isolation indistinguishable from nonentity" are inert, lifeless, and ungraded in relevance when compared to eternal
sult in
is
Systematic Framework
40
objects linked by the
God's primordial
It
is
Plato's
is
web
of relational essences
which
is
vision.
as follows:
must stand
for
some element
that
is
cosmos,
now and
[it]
always
25
present in the working of the universe.
It
this
same
pointless to ask
is
if
role
God
system.
that
is
now and
for
some element
The
their
their
occasions.
The
subjective
aim from
25. Francis
M.
its
prehension of God.
P-
37 see a ^ so P-
7^-
3.
Concrescence
Chapter
is
will
II;
1.
To
God,
for
make
all
without
they have
all
been made. So
God
manner
in
in a
upon
would be
which
all
4*
is
more
Systematic Framework
42
God
God
is
these sentences
Whitehead
is
more
saying
(PR
344). In
than that God
God
in the
By
above passage:
is
Whitehead means
every instance of
God
its
individualization. This
God
does
Whitehead
is
aim
God
is
that
God was
once the
had only
Whitehead
is
all
single
instantiation.
God would
constitute
2
the categories of Whitehead's system.
insisting that
God
By
God
though Whitehead warns us that the phrase "God as creis "apt to be misleading by its suggestion that the
ultimate creativity of the universe is to be ascribed to God's
ator"
1.
Whitehead's Metaphysics,
2.
Ibid.,
pp. 194-95.
p.
195.
Concrescence
43
not God,
is
God
is
Whitehead
must now be
creator
made
the
own
concrescence;
by means of
but
explored.
its
universe in
its
it
tively,
its
third type
datum
when
actual
datum
One
it is
actual occasion
and
represented by that
These
made
jects
possibilities are
by God's
pri-
among them;
Any
of
its
3.
universe.
Given these
limitations,
is
by the demands
there remains, how-
it
Whitehead uses the terms "prehension" and "feeling" interchangewhen he intends by the former term to refer to a positive prehension.
"Feeling" best seems to sum up the relationship I have suggested by the
phrases "grasp," "become aware of," and "absorb." The sense of the term
4.
ably
emerge more
clearly in
what
follows.
Systematic Framework
44
ever,
its
decision. In
its
hybrid physical
God
God as
but
objectified
jects
an actual entity
conditioned by
God
is
its
occasion as
its
subjective aim.
among
the alterna-
tives/God "lures" the actual occasion toward that realization which will result in the achievement of maximum
value in the world. "God's
immanence
is
in the world in
an urge towards the
say in
Where
this lure
is
As
in
PR
361.
is
is
prehended under
of
its
a perspective.
feelings
(a con-
Concrescence
God
is
45
is
that
and with
Whitehead
its initial
conceptual valuations,
physical purposes.
its initial
[PR
374]
writes:
initial
stage of the
aim, relevant to
tions awaiting
in
its
its
its
own
development.
derived from
It
a certain
may modify
God and
thereby
feelings.
amount
[PR
of elbow
343]
room
in
its
fail
objects
is
its
toward which
it
i.e.
the goal
Systematic Framework
46
from
it
its
(PR
37)-
is
derived from
God and
directs
its
self-creative process.
The
attain-
The remainder
from
aim
n.
its
selection of a subjective
Phase
In
its
to
its
satisfaction.
of Concrescence
initial
al-
ready possesses, in a sense, a unity, an indivisible togetherness, as a result of its subjective aim.
But
this unity
provided
unity
all
is
process which
into a unity
sions.
some
eternal objects,
is
is
initially
phase of
its
multitude of objects.
the concrescence
what
initial
is
con-
all its
The
merely a
sum
of prehen-
Concrescence
The
47
an initial
stage of many feelings, and a succession of subsequent
phases of more complex feelings integrating the earlier
simpler feelings, up to the satisfaction which is one
process of concrescence
complex unity of
feeling.
[PR
of the satisfaction.
It
might be helpful to
triangle.
The
is
This
divisible into
is
337]
sum
chapter
is
to discover, examine,
and
The purpose
of this
istics
The
first
phase of concrescence
is
variously labeled
by
conformal phase.
The
initial
phase
is
lined
is
These
of
among
God
included, are
all
i.e.
(PR
.they
361).
Given any simple physical prehension within the conformal phase, we can distinguish two subphases, the datum
and the subjective response (PR 179). The datum constitutes the public side of a prehension and the subjective
response constitutes the private side of a prehension; this
Systematic Framework
48
distinction has already
been made
The
initial
and subjective
is one single
datum
is
itself
the amalga-
actual
past
occasion
actual
it
is
objectifying
to
stand
forth
prehension
the selected
past
The
occasion
actual
is
for
the
present
subject
occasion.
tive" constituted
by one of
its
own
feelings
(PR
361).
The
which
an understanding of
is
be
crucial
datum independently of
other prehensions which in aggregate compose the
perspective of
its
initial
the contrary,
unity, that:
it is
the
subject
concrescence. Quite to
"The many
plete phase in
its
all
a feeling
is
manner
(PR
39).
When
of
in
that aim. It
6.
is
Concrescence
49
so,
compatible elements.
datum
negative prehension
"holds
its
its
but
in-
its
final, "satisfied"
is
(PR
subject
35),
negative pre-
subjective form
form of the
(PR
it
the subjective
66). For
all
pre-
whereby the intedo have, depends [depend] on the unity of the subject imposing a mutual
of successive phases of subjective forms,
grations have the characters that they
sensitivity
In summary, the
first
ject.
of
Included
among
physical prehension of
these
perspectives
God whereby
is
the
hybrid
made
into a subjective
tivity of
in.
Phase
II
of Concrescence
of concrescence
all
is
considered by
Whitehead
as
The
opposed to the
initial,
The second
phase, the
first
of
Systematic Framework
50
is
ical feeling
feeling
there
feelings.
"From each
phys-
is
whose datum
is
(PR
physically felt"
an eternal object
immanent,
i.e.
as a realized
67).
is
i.e.
What
happens
in the
felt
felt as
transcend-
determination
(PR 366
is
bedded
is
determinant of concreteness.
fast in
the concreteness
The
feeling, transcendent.
datum
occasion, the
of a conceptual feeling
From
is
is
an actual
an eternal
prehension of
God may
From
arise a
"The
conceptual feeling of a
on
sea or
land" (AI 270). 7 Only God can conjure up conceptual feelings that do not depend on prior physical feelings. "Unfettered conceptual valuation, 'infinite' in Spinoza's sense
of that term,
is
With
7.
(PR
378).
the presence of conceptual feelings the actual
is,
it
has
Concrescence
51
its
phys-
The two
The mental pole
(PR 379). The distinctive importance of these initial conceptual feelings of the mental pole centers about their
character as valuations.
The
Since
all
cannot
consolidation
effect
of
means of negative prehensions (PR 368). The consolidation and integration of later stages is accomplished in part
T5y valuation. Valuation constitutes the subjective form of
(PR
conceptual feelings
367).
The
data of conceptual
is
The
all
The example
physical prehensions
datum
As a
is
and valua-
importance of a given
the satisfaction
is
either
enhanced
therefore
which
is
or attenuated.
Conceptual Reversion
difference
is
is
the
Systematic Framework
52
The
conceptual feelings
and
(PR
forming the
That is,
some
common with those immanent in cer-
380).
feelings,
physical feelings,
it
immanent
felt in
is the process by
which the subsequent enrichment of subjective forms, both
in qualitative pattern, and in intensity through contrast,
is made possible by the positive conceptual prehension of
relevant alternatives" (PR 381 ) A specific example of what
Whitehead has in mind here is furnished by Hume's well-
known
even
is
not a
his
philosophy,
factor in
all
trivial
concrescence.
Upon
ubiquitous
from
its
is
conceptually ordered in
God's experience"
(PR 382 ). 9
Concrescence
Reversion
is
53
is
always
(PR
Transmutation
As
occasion
is
which
is
the satisfac-
must be
that
integrated,
datum
eternal object.
There
is
con-
initially a
as to
trees,
inherent in
viz.
vision of
Hume's
God,
is
Systematic Framework
54
tain quality,
that
is
common
quality.
actual occasions
terized
i.e.
it
begins
its
con-
nexus.
It
Most
There
arises in
"red" as datum.
The important
point
is
ceptual feeling has an impartial relevance to the abovementioned various simple physical feelings of the various
members of the nexus" (PR 383). The emergence of this
Transmutation
first
stage of transmuta-
tion.
is
means
of
and
one transmuted physical feeling which feels the entire exone entity qualified by the datum of the
conceptual feeling involved, i.e. by the eternal object "red."
It should be noted that one single prehension has emerged
where there were initially many. Transmutation thus provides an explanation of how the number of unintegrated
ternal nexus as
The
Concrescence
iv.
Phase
In the
of Concrescence
III
first
55
feel-
integrated with
is
The
its
conceptual counterpart.
its
is
merely subjective
ing
The
effect of the
subjective form
is
"Modes
Contrasts are
(PR
is
the
is
datum
is
of a
a 'contrast' of entities"
(PR
36).
and prepares
which
re-
380]
is
[PR
"That whatever
feelings.
feel-
Figure
the phase
conceptual
is
hension"
is
re-
The
for the
circle
advance to the
final
phase of conscious
datum
actual occasion.
The
from
a.
The
i.e.
advance
circle b'
a reverted
Systematic Framework
56
or holding in contrast, a
and
The
b.
bracket y indicates
the datum for c.
is
Since b
entity,
is
a pure potential
Datum
On
actual
occasion
<D
Conformal fee
Conceptual feelings
II
Complex
Simple
Comparative
IV
feelings
feelings
Ml
Comparative
or
Intellectual feelings
Initial
Phase
Supplemental Phases
Figure
1.
Phases of Concrescence
c,
is
a proposition; the
be called a propositional
proposition
is
between pure
is
[a]
As the datum
feeling.
new kind
potentialities
of entity. It
and
is
actualities.
a hybrid
.
[It]
nexus of reactions
in-
The
definite
[PR
actual
282]
entities
simple or complex,
is
Concrescence
57
The
A proposition
is
is
y.
The
a propositional feeling
when
it
is
be-
primitive type,
tions
more
its
If
the sub-
concrescence
sophisticated than
c.
out of
is
between
contrast
more
is
than a "propositional
immanence
its
of a
is
itself as
potentiality
and
actuality
vaporizes.
and c cannot,
form of b
tion at b. Consequently, c
satisfaction either
in the final
be used to
Given
Figure
clarify
1,
presented as Figure
2, will
transmutation.
a cluster of
2,
a,
labeled a x
a2
etc.
Systematic Framework
occasions
<D
R
Figure
it
2.
Transmutation
(as indicated
feelings.
is
it prehends the
one entity qualified by the eternal
object "red." The valuation at b of the eternal object involved determines, of course, the efficacy of the transmuted
tion
role transmuta-
must be noted that the integration of simple physical feelings into a complex physical feeling only proit
Concrescence
59
We have
place of
its
component
one nexus in
[PR
actual entities.
384]
is
rel-
the key
togetherness of
as "requiring
each other."
to
quired,
as
"one"
reis
One transmuted
phys-
cosmic^ existences
is
and
component
One
further characteristic
emphasized;
it
as a novelty.
Transmutation
of
is
to
(SMW
commit the
52).
transmutation must be
ing phase of
itself
conceptual earlier
What
is
Systematic Framework
60
Figure
in
3.
which
and
4.
Reversion in
this transfer
The datum
Datum
is
transmuted physical
is
feel-
[PR 387-88]
it is
Whitehead
(PR
also
386); this
one diagram,
i.e.
by putting the
left side of
In Figure
Figure
to-
4.
Concrescence
datum nexus
feeling
b'.
6l
his cell
window
at the angry
mob
below. Anger
a novelty in each
is
of the crowd.
partial
which
member
relevance to the
members
and by
of the nexus
is
substituted for
in the perception
mob,
arises
murderer anger
is
move-
that
al-
members
nobody's dream:
clearer, I will
is
for the
is
To make
it
this
Systematic Framework
62
town
rid the
of a scoundrel;
he transmutes the anger into enthusiastic approval. Walking downstairs to acknowledge the ovation he suddenly
encounters anger in all its physicalness as he is unceremoniously lynched.
may be
the
datum
of a reverted
members of the original nexus. In this case, the transmuted feeling of the nexus introduces novelty; and
in
unfortunate
'error.'
But
also,
[PR
"Error
cases
may be termed
novelty
this
387]
is
we pay
for progress"
(PR
and
is,
consequently, essential
But
a full understand-
IV
of concrescence.
Phase IV of Concrescence
The
circle d, in
Figure
complex comparative
feeling.
Consciousness
feeling,
is
also
called
an intellectual
in
the subjective form of an intellectual feeling. For consciousness to arise as the subjective form of a feeling, that feeling
must prehend
such a datum
datum. The
by bracket z
a special sort of
are indicated
characteristics of
in Figure
datum
is
1.
the generic
and a
members
of the
proposition with
its
logical subjects
its
Concrescence
63
components
[PR
47l
The
by a and
and
b,
may
be, con-
trasted
feeling at d.
into the
it
leg
it
enters,
abstraction:
10.
W.
John
(Providence,
in
10
Brown
Knowledge
White-
Whitehead on
two-way functioning of
82-84). The alleged inconsistency
arises from a supposed violation of Category of Explanation xxvi. I would
maintain that there is no inconsistency because the "final satisfaction"
has not yet been reached at this point; there is no Categoreal Demand for
a to have only one function at a stage prior to the final satisfaction.
sistency in
(see
his
chap.
Whitehead makes
9,
it
especially
pp.
is
what
ensures unity of function of a from the perspective of the final satisfaction: "In an intellectual feeling the datum is the generic contrast between a nexus of actual entities and a proposition with its logical subjects
members
of the nexus.
The common
two
feelings effects
its
Thus what
in origination
is
Systematic Framework
64
reduced to the
is
no longer
factors
Each
cation.
to
becomes
logical subject
with
actualities,
the predicate.
a bare
'it'
assigned hypothetical
its
.
among
relevance
is
The
it is
required
objectification
must have
in order to be hypothetical
The two
appearing at c in Figure
The
can
The
distinction
datum
bare "it," at
c.
re-
duction, hence they do not serve as lures for further comparative integration:
and
datum
of the
The
objective
that
it
constitutes
its
definiteness.
respectively,
25-26.
is
Concrescence
ness as to
65
own
its
which
eternal object
ing [as
ingressions
sinks back
it
is
the
from
datum
its
is
transcendent state at b
immanent
datum
at c].
[PR 421]
to a multiplicity
which
pre-
is
what
d with consciousness
as
an element in
11
subjective form.
In an interesting passage Whitehead relates his techni-
cal
scious experience:
This account agrees with the plain facts of our conscious experience. Consciousness flickers;
its
brightest, there
is
and even
at
illu-
which
sion.
tells
The
of intense experience in
dim apprehen-
is
no meas-
sciousness
is
ally attained,
not
its
necessary base.
[PR 408]
differences
among
11.
ings at c that
emphasize
this point,
feel-
it
is
essential
if
one would
II,
below.
Systematic Framework
66
trast
categories each of
which
a distinctive type.
categories of proposi-
(1)
resulting in the species of intellectual feelings
scious perceptions";
and
termed "con-
termed
The
"intuitive judgments."
sitional
feelings,
indicated in Figure
5.
The
tional feelings,
and hence of
cated in Figure
6.
In Figure
is
is
indi-
is
to
be contrasted with a
indicative feeling a
nition
is
at
c.
In Figure
6,
a.
actual occasions
and
/?
may be
to
be con-
tum
which
however, the
6,
(1) so
much
alike
on them
is
Concrescence
67
on them
is
tive
hood, as
upon
when
is
false,
is
is
nation.
|n)
Datum
actual
occasion
.a.j
mT
>(7)
\zJ
i
1
Cb)
1311
III
Phases
Figure
may
It
tional
6.
appear at
feelings
this
must always be
true.
Perceptive proposi-
Figure
5,
in
fact,
portrays an
authentic perceptive
propositional feeling; Figure 7 portrays, by way of conan unauthentic perceptive propositional feeling. Here
trast,
into black,
would not be
true,
i.e.
Systematic Framework
68
cifically
(PR 401)
trayed in
Phases
Figure
The
7.
5) are true
qualifi-
datum. 12
If this datum actual occasion has initiated a maverick conceptual reversion (say it felt something physically as blue
of concrescence, but the actual entity
which
is its
but conceptually reverted it to black), the possibility remains that its maverick reversion, which is something that
has realization in that datum ideally, might be transmuted
by the concrescing subject so that the maverick reversion
appears to have realization in that datum physically. If
the concrescing subject fails to understand what happened.
12. It
might help to
occasion, in Fig.
3,
p. 60.
datum
actual
Concrescence
An
error arises.
is
said to
the
69
datum
is,
13
direct au-
without
qualifi-
cation, true.
vi.
A
tity
Satisfaction
few remarks about the "satisfaction" of an actual en14
Cateconclude this account of concrescence.
will
The
final
an actual
stituting
entity,
fully
is
its
creativity,
and
determinate (a) as to
its
genesis,
(b) as to
negative
is
final
(c)
to
as
of every item in
its
its
prehension
universe.
positive or
[PR
38]
As
my
exposition indicates,
think that
Whitehead
is
saying that
in
up too
quickly.
Systematic Framework
yo
The
and
it
whereby
'decision'
its
it
its
itself in
stood
still
if
only
it
phase of
its
individual sepa-
could.
still;
[PR
it.
Time
has
13
233]
and outcome
process
'superject' rather
It closes
up the
[The]
which
'satisfaction'
entity;
and yet
is
[PR
both
is
the
'subject.'
its
coming of
is
one
a be-
is
in question.
129]
The
satisfaction
such
it
is
(PR
is
beyond
itself"
beyond
itself"
(PR
227).
as
PR
227, where
Whitehead
Concrescence
which
is
71
it;
the satisfaction
how
it
it,
how
i.e.
it
how
exerts
is
in-
how
it
conditions
its
"objective
will
be
Some
4.
This chapter
Part
II.
and
society,
Specifically,
sentational
ception in
will figure
1.
it
some
framework which
of the implica-
will
be useful for
nexus
and the doctrines of causal efficacy and preimmediacy as they lead to an account of perthe mode of symbolic reference. These doctrines
prominently in the early sections of Chapter 7.
of transmutation in Chapter
noted the
all
feel-
that nexus.
For
this
single
impartial
which
somehow
is
conceptual
datum
the
of
con-
present
in a great
among
make
it
up.
Some
73
facts
togetherness
of the
of actual
entities,
among
fact of togetherness
'nexus'
The
(plural
form
is
actual entities
is
called a
[PR 29-30]
written 'nexus').
majority of the
that these
member
is
it
is
Whitehead's system,
for there
is
illegitimate
can be no mutual
entities. It
Whitehead
to introduce
Systematic Framework
y4
Blyth
is
occasion can
moment
needs to be rescued.
Figure 8
is
four-dimensional nexus.
same
chair
it
it
it is
was
this
Chap.
difficulties
above,
3,
The
composed
chair
of the
is
the
same
one nexus.
initially
un-
Whitehead
at the
its
taking this tack in arguing that the problems he finds "render the entire
initially
unplausible."
maximum
plicability.
Some
At
6, I
75
The contemporaries
of
the
entities
now
is
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
A7
A8
A9
different.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
B7
The
modification
is
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
C8
C9
B8
B9
Figure 8. Nexus
ages;
B 4 prehends
In Figure
and
8,
prehends, and
levels;
all
is
among A 3
3,
and
Systematic Framework
76
A C
2,
2,
and
D A C
relationships
2.
4,
4,
among
those predecessors, as
enced
as obtaining
result
is
and
are
all
their
among
The
such that
if
tinue to
complex occasions.
The
in the above paragraph is meant to exhibit what Whitehead probably had in mind when he used the phrase "prehensions of each other." One might say that a group of
children on a playground are all standing about looking at
each other, and this would be a perfectly apt description
even if it happens to be the case that no child is looking at
the particular child who is looking at him. These considera-
it
that
his
it
and
is
called a society.
is
via nexus
universe
satisfies
is
of
certain
said to ex-
do not mean to imply that Blyth 's objection is completely unis careless in this connection. For example, he writes:
"a physical feeling, belonging to the percipient, feels the nexus between
two other actualities, A and B. It feels feelings of A which feel B, and
feels feelings of B which feel A. It integrates these feelings, so as to
unify their identity of elements. These identical elements form the factor
." (PR
defining the nexus between A and B
351). Blyth is right in
insisting that Whitehead cannot consistently say this about A and B,
but my aim in the text has been to show that Whitehead need not have
2.
founded. Whitehead
Some Extensions
Whitehead
of the System
very
specifies
77
the
precisely
characteristics
nexus enjoys
mon
'social order'
element of form
of each of
common
its
where
there
(i)
is
com-
element of form
this
(ii)
member
each
arises in
of
by
its
(iii)
by reason of
common
form
ciety.
their inclusion of
form.
the com-
is
The
members
common form
reproduction of the
of the
tion of reproduction
mon
members
nexus, and
is
of the nexus
among each
relations
and
other,
is
common
it
defining char-
mem-
my
Thus the
ber denying
50-51,
form.
italics]
to
its
own
concrescence.
[PR
Genetic relations are those that hold in virtue of the prehensive character of actual occasions,
from the
component prehensions
i.e.
relations arising
(PR 334-35).
It
is
to
crucial
Whitehead's system that "Apart from inhibitions or additions, weakenings or intensifications, due to the history
of its production, the subjective form of a physical feeling is re-enaction of the subjective form of the feeling felt"
(PR 362). Since, in the case of actual entities that compose the lower type societies, these inhibitions, additions,
4.
The
refutation of Blyth
on
this point.
It
also
serves
as
Systematic Framework
y8
forms at
almost com-
the
common
Societies
do not
exist in isolation,
first,
its
social back-
found the "laws of nature/' the order exhibited by the society of electronic and protonic actual entities that dominate our special cosmic epoch. But these
generality are
wider
societies;
mere dimensionality, and finally the basic order of extensiveness (PR 140). As regards this most general society
Whitehead writes: "In these general properties of exten-
ity,
sive connection,
we
epoch.
It
contains in
ticular characteristics
148).
The
nection,
is
itself
(PR
such that
it
own
itself
cosmic
one of seven
di-
Within the
5.
society of electronic
is
of 'order' "
and
"its
common
members
of
their
Some
79
more
259);
spread
is
completely lacking.
Whitehead
those historic routes of electronic (or protonic) actual enthat constitute the existence of electrons
tities
tons).
Within
many
routes of electronic
strand being a
many
(or pro-
"strands,"
i.e.
Whitehead an enduring
object
(PR
51).
The molecule
is,
nexus which
(i)
(ii)
is
may be
may be more
termed a 'corpuscular
society.'
society
chair
is
its
many
associ-
corpuscular.
Systematic Framework
80
Some members
of a
com-
vading nature.
of givenness
which
if
demand
great stability
employs the device of blocking out unwelcome detail. It depends on the fundamental truth that objectification
is
inherent in objectification so as to dismiss the thwarting elements of a nexus into negative prehensions.
At
the
An
is
[PR
154]
allow
it
ment.
its
own
subjective
successfully to
It
flection
in
society.
It
may be
unfortunate or
itself
See
PR
it
parries
151-52, 163.
we
are in
Some Extensions
of the
System
(PR
81
conceptual integration
is
to environment.
is
Within
only some of
its
inal reactions.
and
[component] nexus
These
but the
all
be such that
their members have any orig-
will
in practice a society
be
is
its
will
only called
'living'
when
[i.e. dominate the other suband sub-nexus of the complex structured so-
[PR
157]
if
is
up
and
built
[PR
157]
It
by
liv-
Systematic Framework
82
ing, personally ordered societies,
as the theory of
an account he
refers to
symbolic reference.
Symbolic Reference
n.
The
The
mode
of causal efficacy.
of sensa"
(PR
ual occasion,
datum,
is
176).
The
its
is
an "un-
simple content
which merely
an instance of
datum with
its
only with
causation
become
of causal efficacy
is
this direct,
mode
objectifi-
mode
of pres-
mode
of causal efficacy
is
(PR
enjoyed
Whitehead
deficient
(PR
in
176).
its
writes
that
in
is
"the
process
is
datum"
Some
83
come
into
with a at
c, as
aloof from a
is
tremendously heightened.
is
The
the "given-
ness" for the percipient actual occasion of clearly articulated sensa, located in a geometrically specified contem-
in
the
mode
is
the percep-
of presentational immediacy,
But
it
is
to
of the
be noted that
upon
is
a dopre-
is
sult of a projection.
will reveal the
mechanism
what
is
'given'
is
is
(PR
260).
The
sensa
by past actual occasions. These sensa arise from the prehension, i.e. from the perception in the mode of causal
efficacy, of actual occasions in
Systematic Framework
84
They
species
role. These
prehended as
species,
In the
datum
there are
components of
these
first
sensa com-
61]
The
terns,
contemporary of A 3 B 3 C 3 and D 3
and which prehends A 2 B 2 C 2 and D 2 as exhibiting, in
the diagram but
is
among A 2 B 2 C 2 and
,
line a rectangle
and
A2
and
C2
re-
and B 2 and
are joined
by the diagonals. In the datum for X 3 is included, therefore, the general schema of relationships which holds between A 2 B 2 Co, and D 2 plus a feeling for the geometrical
,
Some
85
components of
its
temporal
di-
will
is
perceives
A B C3
3
and
mechanism by which
mode
in the
The
what Whitehead
is
3]
of presentational
as follows:
stage [of
3]
unity of feeling:
the supplemental
sensa,
the
mode
[PR
It
sensum termed
'grey.'
261]
mode
now."
What
is
shadow
locus.
of doubt,
Any
intellectual
reference.
As
perceived,
directly
is
certainly
and without
by
[PR
261]
is
judgment;
it
is
Systematic Framework
86
is
a lifting of the
relevance" in the
mode
of presentational
mode
immediacy of
of causal efficacy.
The
efficacy associated
posed upon
it
of the
i.e.
symbolic reference.
It
trees:
ment
new
product,
The integration of
[PR 271-72].
modes in supplemental feeling makes what
would have been vague to be distinct, and what would
have been shallow to be intense. [PR 273]
grey stone
the two
Some
87
of Fig-
i,
as a fourth
which in
fact
(PR
mit the physical inheritance from the past and also transmit the feelings of geometrical facts of order, the "strain
feelings," which constitute the ground for projection in
the mode of presentational immediacy. Should the bodily
mechanism be even slightly disordered, as happens when
one overindulges in alcoholic beverages or suffers from
excessive emotional strain, for instance, then the deliver-
may
well have
or
little
no
vironment. 10
10. Blyth writes, p. 84: "Perhaps one of the most serious defects in
Whitehead's theory of perception considered as a whole is his failure to
coordinate the explanation of conscious perception with the two uncon-
scious
modes
of perception."
serious
investigation.
entities."
"Perceptions in the
mode
of presentational
their data,
It
tional
entities.
Blyth
my
is
playing
discussion
tries
to
Systematic Framework
88
of the book.
discussion of the
how
II. I will
turn
may be
now
to a considera-
approach
problems of aesthetic theory: a characterization of the aesthetic object, an account of aesthetic
tion of
these categories
utilized to
five traditional
of art.
make
hended by
i.e.
PR
any
mode
of
feeling,
physics, p.
is
no need
entities.
be
it
conscious or
presentational
i.e.
immediacy
the donors of
and
its
contemporaries
Part
II
AESTHETIC THEORY
5.
An
what
is
is
What
is
the
which makes
objects
make
their impact
them aesthetic? How do these
on those who contemplate them? In what sense do these
peculiar nature of the objects they are creating
objects
embody
truth?
couched
in
What
The
is
results of
in-
M.
analysis of personality.
1.
Ibid.,
pp. 14-15.
91
Aesthetic Theory
Q2
two functions
creation
so each
one on the
human mind
sonality has a
ingly
is
letters, etc.,
from other
man
it
it
It
and
differs vividly
it
and amus-
personalities.
there
is
no
down
dips a bucket
not produce
Humphrey Ward.
or Mrs.
but without
a
and
surface,
William Shakespeare,
is conscious and alert,
answering
information
first-class
into
it
occasionally he can-
work. There
something gen-
is
eral
S.
T. Coleridge,
it
It
has something
common
in
with
all
and that
we
common
quality
is
God,
makes
force that
depths, so
It
is
anonymity. As
it
in
it
tionings; as
for
it
is
general to
all
men,
so the works
it
inspires
beauty.
ture
is
that
What
it
is
transforms the
we
class this
who
are not
first
Lamb and
fanciful,
tolerant,
humorous
but they
fellows,
down
not
try:
Lamb
said, are
did
bbeyond
S.
who
93
down[,]
let it
of the mannerisms,
full
the self-consciousness, the sentimentality, the quaintness which he was hoping to avoid. He and Lamb
append their names in full to every sentence they
They pursue
write.
They
signed.
And
the proof
"How
exclaiming
Stevenson!"
or
"How
we
is
like
that,
Lamb!"
never say
like
We
.
and
are always
of
typical
Shakespeare!"
in these days,
we
"How
or
"How
Dante!"
typical of
whereas
The demand
that
is
modes
earlier
of criticism
riage.
What
pursue
it
more
have in the
As an
there
is
down
there
artist,
past.
and
is
another
scientists
as
one who
ah, that
lives
3.
enquiry,
16-18, 23.
with
He
art,
Mr. Forster
But he
is
aware that he
Aesthetic Theory
94
has
T. E. Hulme has commented upon the widespread tendency to express insights concerning the arts metaphorically:
an
in
after-
am
And
of the matter.
so
it
it
quote
it
as
show-
it
is
so
hopelessly vague. It
of excite-
ment which
in
art
no way
fits
defines art in
much
of
4
it.
Forster's
metaphor
is
Rothenstein's, but in
own way
vague."
To
my
aim
eliminate at least
provide
them with
it
some
is
also
"hopelessly
of this vagueness
They
will seize
is
upon
to
Chapter 6
will
of
the on-
Whitehead's theory
in
inspires
have something general about them." Chapter 7 will analyze aesthetic experience. Whitehead's doctrine of prehensions will be used to specify the exact sense in which great
art
"transforms the
4. Speculations, p.
148.
man who
[contemplates]
it
toward
man who
95
[created
is
retained.
Chapter
9, in
considering the
all
The
selec-
Mr. Forster
than the
artist
correctly recognizes
precise interpretations of
is
a very real
The
Aesthetic Theory
96
problems of
eral
art,
is
literary
which purports
to
As
and
by the
that painter. It
what
He
less
is
direct
and convincing.
"The Scope
of Aesthetics,"
hope
this
paper has
made
at least
somewhat more
includes
all
the proper
works of
domain
of criticism
is
media, whereas
the interpretative
medium;
must
this or that
start with,
8,
1958.
6. Journal of Aesthetics
and Art
Criticism, 8, 213.
97
all art as
such,
and
if
and
they
common
fail
will as
to do
characteristics
am
mies or
common
rivals
and of interpreting
mankind. 7
I
allies
in the
art,
to
is
all
but also to
is
7. Ibid., p.
228.
art, to
enterprise of in-
and of interpreting
mankind."
common
life,
The
6.
Aesthetic Object
Ontological status of
all
the major
arts:
phenomenon
of Psychical Distance.
arts.
Ontological Status
occurs in
poem
of
The
Aesthetic Object
Literature.
Work
99
located, or
how
it exists.
poem
Reviewing their
it
is
where it
arguments will
is,
etc., etc.
Nor can
Comedies
as readers
poem be the
many Divine
necessarily experience
Nor
is
the
leads to the
Fallacy."
is
view
"Intentional
for this
art,
conclude them-
poem
sum
of experi-
ences, but only a potential cause of experiences. Definition in terms of states of mind fails because it
cannot account for the normative character of the
genuine poem, for the simple fact that it might be
1.
New
2.
Ibid., pp.
Aesthetic Theory
ioo
experienced correctly or incorrectly. In every individual experience only a small part can be considered
as
must be conceived
as a structure of
real
many
so forth)
and complete
Even
its
readers.
ards.
poem
norms, realized
norms
or stand-
of experience")
notion of a Whiteheadian proposition, an impure potential which acts as a lure for feeling. The theory to be advanced here will exhibit their insights as emerging from
Whitehead's
brilliant speculative
who
The poem
is
an
act.
is
The
The
of course an abstraction.
if
we
Icon:
poem
The Verbal
it
and
must be
it,
hypostatized. 4
is
poem
is
\et
Ibid., p. 151.
4.
p. xvii.
The
Aesthetic Object
101
raises
the
their analysis of
sculpture.
same ontological
mon
This
characteristics exhibited
by
all
com-
recognized tragedies.
common
looks for
by
characteristics exhibited
all
recog-
common
characteristic
just as well
be function,
for example.
Some
aestheticians
by
artistic
production
been
which
Junction
is
This
dis :
is confused and inadequate if it depends upon or refers in any way to a theory of artistic creation ./There is no question but that the word "art" can
mean both the creating of aesthetic objects and the prod-
the__aesthetie object
it
is
obvious that
two meanings of the word "art", should not be confused. But I submit that an aesthetic theory, to be adequate, must: do justice to both senses of the" word "art"
and, what is most important, link these two senses in a
the"
5.
They
157): "The
[literary]
work of
art,
then,
is
."
.
*9S9) P-
3-
(New
York, Macmillan,
Aesthetic Theory
102
dissections
stricted
On
and
its
work of
this
by specifying a unique
art
framework
descrip-
its
From
tistic creation.
its
ar-
both a theory
re-creation and an Art
arises
art.
The
aesthetic
one integrated theory. It is characteristic of this theory that it pivots about an account of
the ontological status of aesthetic objects; this account is
the cement that holds together the other elements constitutive of it. Since an account of the ontological status
theory of these chapters
of the
is
is,
shall turn
Whiteheadian theory
immediately to a summary
of propositions
upon which
my own
jects
n.
proposition
(PR
feeling
called
the objective
is
391).
from Chapter
datum
of a propositional
propositional feeling,
3, is
it
will
be
re-
(PR
391).
an eternal object.
pletely general.
The datum
of a conceptual feeling
conceptual feeling
Hence
is
a conceptual feeling
by
itself
is
com-
The
Aesthetic Object
103
vance to
its
rele-
an eternal object;
is
among
or epochs.
On
[PR
391]
datum
either
actualities
or, if
of a physical feeling
is
and
entities.
specific, a this as
tive feelings:
its
feel-
entities, in-
These actual
The
absolute generality
subjects.
tiality of
The
its
is
possibilities as a
restricted to these
proposition
is
the poten-
initeness, in
of restricted ref-
its
[PR
is
393]
absolute
generality,
Aesthetic Theory
104
datum
of the
component
physical feeling.
logical
not a fully concrete actual occasion; it is an abstraction. But it is an incomplete abstraction so that a
subject
is
proposition
still
among
its components.
These determinate actual entities, considered formaliter and not as in the abstraction of the proposition,
do afford a reason determining the truth or falsehood
of the proposition. But the proposition in itself, apart
from recourse to these reasons, tells no tale about itself; and in this respect it is indeterminate like the
eternal objects.
The
[PR
393]
is
logical subjects 17 so
my
important to
purpose that
will
its
The datum
elimination.
The
it is
objectification remains
to be hypothetical food
It
formaliter
is
an actual occasion
its
own immediate
The
Aesthetic Object
105
And again:
Thus
reduced
is
indication.
among
Each
becomes a bare
logical subject
with
actualities,
its
'it'
is
defined
how
datum
of a
in a propositional feeling
tegral to a proposition.
we analyzed
But
lest this
independence
as
members
feelings integrated
technique lead to a
now be
exhibited
in
of a unique category
of existence.
Whitehead
writes:
there
is
andV
complete indeterminate-
>
its
Aesthetic Theory
106
osition as a
Whitehead
de-
portance
is
He
insists that
in the real
world
it is
tance of truth
is,
that
it
it
be
true.
ad ds to j^teres^
a proposi-
here maintained
[PR 395-96]
is
is
mination of matters of
fact.
Both
fact,
specific deter-
being in God.
ing,
means of its
feeling. [PR 395]
actual world by
it
a lure for
He makes
it.
is
[a]
Its
datum
for feel-
relevance to the
logical subjects
makes
tion
as
it
It
it
as well
The
Aesthetic Object
107
an integral propositional
in the history of
no unique
is
Any
is
also a subject
subject with
its
objective
any
datum
datum.
its
It
as its
in.
The
as
[PR
396]
Proposition
is
development.
nological
The
first is
be
work of
specified.
art
it
will
be argued that
an objectified proposition,
The second
such as to permit an
nent form a
is
is
that
artist to set
some
down
in
of the
perma-
be used by per-
is the work
example of such a set of rules would be the
musical score of Kiss Me Kate or a text of King Lear. It
will be essential in what follows to preserve carefully the
distinctions between works of art (or propositions), performances (or objectified propositions), and rules or in-
of art.
An
The Sense
of Beauty
(New
York,
Modern
Aesthetic Theory
io8
of works of
art. This qualification introduces the distincbetween the performer arts and the nonperformer arts.
By performer arts I mean literature, music, the dance, and
tion
is
a performer in-
Martha Graham
or Franz Lizst.
But there
an impor-
is
and
corollaries,
its
two
lated to
fication
in,
the performer
arts;
and
thirdly,
art,
will
utilize
shares
some
of the characteristics of the nonperformer arts) as a transition to a discussion of the nonperformer arts.
emphasize that
all
wish to
comments will, it is hoped, prove interesting, but it is to be remembered that they are like
the first occurrence of a major theme in a symphony; it is
theory.
These
initial
only after the other themes appear and share in the de-
first
in
its
total
Psychical Distance
Edward Bullough,
The
Aesthetic Object
all
109
aesthetic thinking. Indicating the
manner
in
from.
it is
Even
has
its
as objectified a proposition
is
less
than actual;
i.e.
of perform-
ances,
Psychical Distance
is
that
it
is
tance. It
is
medium with
loss
is
if
apt to be an
all
too
human
amount
fail
to
to a concentration
no
Aesthetic Theory
It is possible
ment
may
We
imitation.
from
The
and
that
we can not
medium with
jectifying
literal interpretation,
actions
its
of art,
as the instru-
cause misunderstanding in
man body
body
of dance
realm of art
is
The
be confused with the "natural/' i.e. the actual. Bullough's insistence upon the need to "distance" works of art
is paralleled by Miss Lippincott's statement as well as by
the present demand that the work of art be recognized as
to
propositional in character.
From even
aesthetic theory
am
it
is
affinities
is
with
But
insights
gether
my
perience,
and
ment simply
In Part
I,
artistic creation.
"A
is
sufficient at the
mo-
and
in section
11
It
My
italics.
The
and
Aesthetic Object
eternal objects.
human
and
a street-knifing in Chicago.
crete experience of
prehending a proposition.
nessing an actual murder.
men
watching a group of
daggers; that
is
This knowledge
ties
what
is
an instance of
man
with rubber
medium
conglomeration of actualities
is
we
prehend.
in the performal
con-
of the performal
What makes
is
The
is
that
we know
subjects, subjects
stracted
from
are
factors in fact"
(PR
394).
The
play
itself is
it is
an
ideal
Aesthetic Theory
112
and
actualities.
places,
i.e.
Different
different acting
Each company provides in its actors a group of actualities which objectify the proposition which is the play
they perform. These actualities supply the objectification
eliminated in the proposition which is the play itself. But
it is the secondhandness of the objectification which they
tion.
Were the
objectification immediate there would be a streetand not the assassination of Julius Caesar in the
play of that name.
These considerations will become more plausible as they
are integrated into a theory of aesthetic experience and ar-
knifing
tistic creation.
perience
is
of the proposition objectified in a performance compliments nicely the present theory and leads to a Whiteheadian formulation of Croce's view that the artifact, the objectification,
/
those
who
is
means
to achieve the
end of permitting
in their
own
consciousness.
in
Chap-
as intro-
now be
performer
arts.
The
Aesthetic Object
The Performer
113
Arts
be using
shall
specific
arts will
be equally applicable to
be drawing
shall frequently
what could
is
Theproblem
this:
is
poem, or
a ballet
it is
not
music
seems to be a
this
me
danger
is
on the treacherous
certainly there
problem.
real
inevitable,
is
my
take
but the
to.
cue from
Every
tence
is
"you" understood.
What
want
to suggest
composition
is
think
and
is
is
that
a musical
can show
fruitful implica-
tions.
Music
is
arts,
and
But
pure of the
arts,
Sounds are
etc.
in
what way
is
the most
music abstract?
movements
Aesthetic Theory
114
which music
is
abstract
is
which is a composition
"you" understood. Eduard Hanslick argues that music
cannot represent specific feelings, such as love or fear.
What
sent,
if
Only
dynamic
their
properties.
It
may
reproduce
its
momentum:
and decreasing
ness, increasing
is
But motion
feeling
itself.
feel12
Music
The
listener
as
is
is
the
is
object.
This suggestion
is
points
that
erotic)
to
all admired as being especially sugwere taken from secular duets (mostly
12.
composed
The
Beautiful in Music
(New York,
The
Aesthetic Object
115
many
13
Hanslick adds
ing that
when
Magic Flute
The
farcical
humor
of the parody."
14
participant in the
is
bootless,
argument
is
is
is
that each
veys only in
gest that
its
much music
from the
is
that
class of propositions
logical subject
is
it
an
ment
as
which
is
able subject, though the creative listener aesthetically recreating that proposition
13. Ibid., p. 35.
14. Ibid., p. 34.
is
free to
n6
Aesthetic Theory
own
to his
may
be.
Bell
and Hanslick
(at least in
some
of his contentions).
signifi-
own and no
relation whatever to the signifiboth poor aesthetics and poor metaphysics. Itjust is not true that "to appreciate a work of art
we need bring with us nothing from life, no knowledge
cance of
its
cance of
life"
of
ideas
its
15
and
is
no
affairs,
familiarity with
will exhibit
its
my
emotions."
16
which
can
ac-
cept certain insights of the Art for Art's Sake theory. Surely
it is
Jenkins
17
that
is
and
this
will
My
comments on music
work of
art
prepares the
ditionally,
fall
function of
art.
a proposition, in
is
way
for a theory of
its
The
application to music,
and abstract art while Art for Life's Sake theorists speak
about the novel and the theater. The theory that the work
of art is a proposition will enable me to bring music and
abstract art within my discussion. Pure music is still in
relationship with the world, Bell notwithstanding, because
15. Art
16.
(New
Ibid., p.
p.
30.
27.
1958.
and the
Human
The
Aesthetic Object
in absolute
117
a given composition
conveys only in
course, has a
its
These matters
come
will
now
development of the theory of the aesthetic obby means of a discussion of the performer arts.
An exploration of the relationship between artist and
to a further
ject
some
musical composition
is
a proposition. It has
notes he sets
work of
art;
its
own
composer
It
is
is
im-
how
the proposition is to be objectified. The rules of performance admit of some looseness and hence various interpretations of a given work are inevitable. In many cases
the composer explicitly acknowledges his close collaboration with the performer by introducing into his composition a cadenza or a section marked "ad lib." In the literary
arts one thinks of a rough parallel in the delightful spoofs
called "Pantomimes" performed in London about Christmas time each year in which the actors have, in addition to
set lines, great freedom to introduce relevant material from
the day's headlines for irreverent comment.
Ballet also
dulge
now and
t
'
Aesthetic Theory
118
between
and
a given proposition
the proposition
is
there as a
its
That
objectifications.
norm behind
objectifica-
its
is
The composition
on
its
other.
One
is
there,
it is
is
a propo-
such
as
objectifications.
It
it
is
a tightly interlocking
proposition which
merely a proposition,
it is
is
aim of prehensions
an object intended by
its
subjective
aim of prehensions of
becomes: to re-create
of
it.
The
maker, through
which
it.
will
That
its
ar-t-
determine the
subjective
aim
ob-
proposi-
is
ob-
The
Aesthetic Object
moment
be made at the
to
interlocking
possibilities
aesthetic re-creation.
on the
flat field
The
119
is
have
that not
all
of the tightly
power of generating
this
as hillocks
of possibilities.
5,
which
that beauty
is
is
an
subjective
as well
The
is
its
object.
point here
is
performance
non
of aesthetic experience. It
is
which
to be noted
it
can because
re-
creation.
An
example
hanging before
me
The
painting
prehensions of
it
in the
mode
lose
composition
much
beauty,
of causal efficacy
would
it
would
fail
to attract the
much of its value it would fall beon the other hand, the boats were completely rearranged in a manner even more beautiful than
at present, the objectified proposition would be pushed
even higher up its hillock. More profoundly, if the stark
loneliness of the empty sheds had not been caught by the
artist so well, nor the calm shimmer of the water, the propopainting would lose
tween
hillocks. If,
Aesthetic Theory
120
sition itself
would be one
aesthetically indifferent,
to
it
i.e.
hillocks.
is
Hamlet who
is
recog-
its
it
agreed with
and not
is
it
was
a proposition of
shall offer
move
smooth-running production developed and was subsequently entered in two competitions. The first was judged
The
Aesthetic Object
by the drama
critic
of a
121
New
York newspaper;
in his cri-
tique the judge was lavish in his praise of the acting and
details of
The same
caliber
of per-
formance received no award, and in his critique the professor spent but one sentence on it, which in effect said:
"Mr. Saroyan did not have the slightest idea what he was
trying to say when he wrote this play so one cannot criticize
his players for failing to provide an intelligible performance." Ignoring the question as to whether the professor
was right in his analysis of Saroyan's play, he was certainly
correct in insisting that one cannot evaluate lighting, timing, diction, pace, etc. in a vacuum. These are all techniques for objectifying a proposition; they enhance the
proposition they objectify, but they also derive their raison
d'etre from that proposition. If that proposition is weak,
flabby, or otherwise- aesthetically ineffective, any given
performance of the work is bound to be aesthetically unsatisfactory no matter how polished technically.
The second item involves the Yale premiere of Archibald MacLeish's J.B. I attended this performance in the
company of a third-year directing student at the Yale
Drama School. This student was convinced that J.B. is
not good theater, on the grounds that MacLeish had not
been successful in making J.B. and his family real, live
people with whom the audience could identify itself. I
maintained, against him, that if performed with older,
more mature actors, in the roles of J.B. and Zeus particularly, this blemish
present obviously enough in the Yale
performance would be seen not to be a weakness of the
play itself. The proposition, which is the play I maintain,
revealed itself through the performance as transcending
the performance^ My friend has since seen the Broadway
production and has granted that Pat Hingle and Christo-
Aesthetic Theory
122
ance
is
which
The
a
is
i.e.
as
would want
more adequate
J.B.
tions.
When
optimum
char-
much stronger denouement. This is, of course, nothing unusual; the normal pilgrimage of plays and musicals from Boston to New Haven
given to J.B. himself, providing a
casion for
much
New
York openings
is
the oc-
it
further
it
up
its
hillock.
is
certainly not
now
between
Whitehead
is
of interest.
insists that
The
123
Aesthetic Object
namely,
jective
when
It is
an
essential
mary function
of a proposition
be relevant
to
is
as a
joke.
felt
[PR
He
37]
cians to ignore
which
or indignation.
The
all
them
interest
tendency of
class
logi-
of propositions
directly:
were
connection with
logic,
first
considered in
beTrueTThe importance
interest.
Jt^
is,
of truth
further,
is,
that
it
adds to
incitement
is
Sometimes there
is
'once
upon
a time.'
[PR 395-97]
Aesthetic Theory
124
ests
Some
of logicians.
interest the
here
is
the
pre-
art are
And
specifically,
i.e.
they lure
aim of
re-creating
them
admit, in
Chapter
will also
"immortality" of
object
is
tive aim.
art,
or "inexhaustibility" of art.
power of seducing
Anart
subjec-
which dot the plain of possibility; by saying that a proposition sits on the crown of a hillock I mean that it exerts
commanding control over an overpowering percentage of
subjective aims that encounter it. There are large and
small hillocks, and propositions on the slopes of hillocks
as well as on the crowns of hillocks. The relevance of the
doctrine of "inexhaustibility" to the hillocks metaphor is
just this: the hillocks that
in constant flux.
plain.
phor
is
To
hillocks
push
their
which
may
in
one climate
solute bores.
a
The
Aesthetic Object
125
critics'
by
meaningless use of
work
"is
tion
for
it
transmutes
itself
you may have felt when the art work's potential for delighting you was still strong and frequent, into a more
intellectual and reverential admiration when the art
work has become as much as ninety per cent, say,
nothing but an exploit. Under such conditions only
the most unlikely turn of events can again give it
importance as an aesthetic experience. 19
Shaw's constructive point, which tends to be
salvos directed at current art criticism,
of obtrusiveness in an art
makes
i.e.
increases
its
its
lost in lusty
it
is
my
it
great,
is
resistance to reitera-
vulnerability to fatigue.
20
Hence
which
terminology,
there
cultural
to
be a
may wear
is
19. Ibid.
(October 1959), p.
5.
20. Ibid.
(November 1959),
p. 8.
in
of certain propositions to
Aesthetic Theory
126
fact that
ment by roaming
ever wider
and wider
afield in the
byways
of art.
There
sitions
an analogy to this erosion in the class of propothat concern the logician; a change in situation can
is
also.
The
is Presi-
dent of the United States" did not have the same truth
value in December of i960 as it had in February of 1961.
Likewise, the aesthetic value of the propositions which
are works of art changes.
rise
and erode,
it
is
impossible to
i.e.
to specify
John Myhill has made this point in an interesting manner by arguing away from Godel's incompleteness theorem
and Church's proof that quantification theory admits of no
art.
decision
procedure. 21
He
concludes,
"The analogue
of
is
"Some
of Metaphysics,
6 (1952), 16 5-9 8
The
Aesthetic Object
127
an open concept.
is
have constantly arisen and
"Art,"
itself,
(cases)
New
will
conditions
undoubtedly
usually
those interested,
professional
critics,
as
to
whether the concept should be extended or not. Aestheticians may lay down similarity conditions but
never necessary and sufficient ones for the correct application of the concept.
then,
What
am
arguing,
is
of art,
makes
ever-present changes
its
it
and novel
any
fining properties.
creations,
set of de-
23
this
is
reflected in
statement can be
tions can
and what
my
made
of exactly
what
sorts of proposi-
what of
is
and
in
considered.
performer
arts, I will
turn
now
to architecture
"The Role
of
Theory
is
and Art
Aesthetic Theory
128
former
there
a "language" capable of
is
An
architect
New
may
poser
may
leave
cago
may be
finished with
may be
Philadelphia
aluminum
considers a
man
As an
and performer
artist-engineer, the
modern
The
Way
is,
like
the painter or
at
New
The
of
als
new
Aesthetic Object
129
applications of mathematics,
much
as a
25
science,
My
The
proposition which
proposition which
is
is
is
position
an
objectification.
that
This
is
the-j
is
objectified propo-/
is
com
independent oj
it is
possible that
wise,
it is
may
working on a canvas. A
sition he
better parallel with music could be made by referring to the
"rides" taken by jazzmen. A jazz classic, e.g. "When the
Saints Go Marching In," merely provides a sequence of
chords for the soloist to work with plus a melodic line that
seeks to objectify while
is
When
a Louis
is
The
that,
at his
jets
Time, 73 (June
1,
1959), 70.
wind" are
end curvature." Quotes from
Aesthetic Theory
130
is
is
is,
for ex-
this
general
But there
the
Wolf
medium
of the imagination.
nonperformer
It
is
not
arts
with
uncommon
for
another in an effort to capture the proposition they all embody ever more perfectly i.e. to push the proposition ever
higher on its hillock. A good example would be the London (National Gallery) and Paris (Louvre) versions of
Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna of the Rocks." Leonardo
had a vision which he desired to objectify and which he
tried to capture more than once. Artists very frequently
make numerous preliminary drawings and sketches for
their projected objectifications; D. C. Rich has published
a whole book (titled Seurat and the Evolution of "La
Grande Jatte" 27 dealing with preparations for a single
objectification.
final difference
former
>
26.
arts
These matters
nection with
artistic
will
be considered again below, Chap. 8, in conand I shall there introduce a phrase bor-
creation,
to
describe
Chicago
this
situation
Press, 1935.
"the
conceived
The
Hi
Aesthetic Object
is
a discursive enits
performance
once secured,
to Time. The
made between
distinction
is
is
arts. It is
Fdr example, in viewing a painting, statue, or cais an arrangement in the object that compels the eye to move in a certain sequence analogous to
the sequence in a musical performance. Also, from the opposite point of view, the allegation sometimes made that
Mozart remarked that he could hear a symphony comother.
thedral there
head
an instant, exemplifies,
whether historically accurate or not, the important truth
plete in His
in the flash of
arts. I
fully grasped,
to register
is
its
impact.
is
if
The
arts there
the objectified
basic aesthetic
the other
experience
if
is
it,
for
contrasts.
Aesthetic Theory
122
in the performer arts
moment
the
architecture,
jectifications of the
eral,
on
but
memory
arts,
is
performer
who
of those
including for
The
rigid.
ob-
arts are in
immortal, a
as objectively
in the
live in
and nonperformer
witnessed
it.
can even
It
live in
my
for
as,
generation
and Greece
are
statuary.
By way
eternal object
reference
is
nal object
Whiteheadian proposi-
works of
I
art
"have some-
suggest that
proposition
is
it
their
is
not completely
is
no
"unqualified negation."
On
of that eter-
an
a feeling
is
lost;
the
characteristic
of eternal
objects
is
The
conse-
definiteness
which
serves
is
as
lure
for
it
is
conscious
we
have.
among
This
is
in
The
Aesthetic Object
133
Hamlet
The
Hamlet and
characters
is
is
J.B.
which is ascribed
which are the propositions which con-
tain
works of
art
them.
Pturn now
to indicate
how
Aesthetic Experience
7.
As
this
in a speculative philosophy.
Whitehead
of
thetic'
is
as a tool for
as the defining
He
selects the
and delimiting
.
epistemology
." 2
means to say that an object is aesthetic and prewhat it means to say that an experience is aesthetic.
His analysis is interesting and subtle and has been extremely helpful to me in investigating the same topics. I
what
it
cisely
do
in
building also
i.
regard to
laid in
but
Chapter
am
6,
2. Ibid., p. 169.
*34
Aesthetic Experience
135
foundation that presents the problems in a slightly difThough the theory of this chapter will consequently advance beyond his position in significant ways,
ferent manner.
shall
his
article,
which
distinctions
initial
from
cated above,
Cobb
In what follows,
fails as
jects.
"the aesthetic."
The primary
Cobb's Theory
Cobb
"One
is
that there
is
a range of objects
The
other
is
common some
dis-
tinguishing trait."
tic of
paintings,
as
has
its
summary
of relevant
Whiteheadian
Cobb
categories,
Ibid.
Aesthetic Theory
136
form or pattern displayed by individual actual occasions; (2) in a form or pattern dis-played by societies of actual occasions; (3) in the re(
in a distinctive
The
in
itself.
first
now
to
it is
itself
some element
is
subjective
aim of an actual
of prehensions,
jective form.
i.e.
initial
Again the
first
form as the locus of "the aesthetic"; "the distinction between 'the aesthetic' and 'the non-aesthetic' must
be made at the level of the subjective forms of prehenjective
sions."
One
further
Whiteheadian
tween prehensions
ceptions in
Cobb
is
mode
distinction
is
be
made
of causal efficacy
form of perception in the mode of presentational immediacy is less determined by the object than is that in the
mode
of causal efficacy
mined by the
object,
it
mediated by the
and
must be
latter),
found
deter-
is
human
occasion which
is
prehending
." 6
determined by the object
.
it
to be
found
them
of
initially in
in the
4.
Ibid., p.
172.
5.
Ibid., p.
175.
6.
Ibid., p.
176.
7. Ibid.
mode
is
of causal efficacy."
Aesthetic Experience
137
In a succinct sentence Cobb characterizes both the object as aesthetic and experience as aesthetic: "To sumis aesthetic to whatever extent the subjecform of the prehension of it in the mode of causal
efficacy is aesthetic; an experience is aesthetic to whatever
marize, an object
tive
is
tive
The
theory culmi-
Art objects are here defined as those which are intended to possess positive aesthetic value or beauty.
That
is,
strive for
prehended
causal efficacy.
The
conclusion
now
reached
fields
is
is
in those
which
that of yielding or
causal efficacy.
Cobb
is
and absent
mode
in the
of
is,
is
essential to aesthetic
The
mode
must
"feel" in the
form
as
of
shared by aesthetic
in the
mode
can
critic
a given
such
by
sacri-
mean
little
more than
if
and is hence unilluminating. Likewise, aesthetic harmony and balance are not identical with mathematical harmony or balance; hence "the
question as to what constitutes aesthetic unity, diversity,
harmony, balance, and contrast must be answered by ref"satisfactory form,"
8. Ibid., p. 177.
9. Ibid., p.
179.
Aesthetic Theory
1^8
erence to the fundamental subjective sense of what is aesthetically satisfactory, rather than being the independent
basis of determining
mode
10
of causal efficacy
is,
causal efficacy."
in
is
Cobb wants
is
taken
is
to be-
any
thereby con-
is
ing."
14
Of
this position
is
Cobb,
12.
"A
writes:
11.
aesthetic feel-
Harmony
Cobb
is
artists."
p. 181.
(New
13.
14.
is
also re-
Aesthetics
Cobb, p. 174.
Curt John Ducasse, The Philosophy of Art (New York, Lincoln
Aesthetic Experience
139
The
taking of
is,
by the
per-
when we adopt
the ap-
is
determined
just as
much by
the intensity
upon
us
The
point
wish to
found
initially in
is
them
in the
the word
may mean
Mac Veagh,
is
not
358-76.
15.
Cobb,
16.
Ibid., p.
p. 174, n. 5.
176.
Aesthetic Theory
140
found
originally
in the objects at
but that
all,
it first
emerges
mode
of causal efficacy
and then
is
somehow
transferred
to the object as a property of the object. This interpretation will never stand
,
metaphysics.
An
immortal and
Whitehead
up
object
"objective/'
is
as
writes:
it
final 'satisfaction' of
(PR
addition"
is
"Actual entities
i.e.
is
objectively
through
perish,
(PR
an actual entity
Whiteheadian
it is
all
time.
but do not
52). Again,
"the
intolerant of any
17
The
satisfaction of
future.
to
its
ity"
If
The
satisfaction
is
...
"fully determinate
as
(PR38). 18
is
fully determinate,
it is
sarily
first
is
sense.
"initially"
may mean
that "the
But
He
wants to hold,
18. Ibid.,
p.
38.
Cobb.
essential
Aesthetic Experience
141
The
an empirical question.
him
to say that
what
is
it is
mode
of causal efficacy"
a property of objects.
19
But
cannot preclude the possibility that one property might make A prehend object X as aesthetic today
his position
and another property might make A prehend X as aesthetic tomorrow. But to say that a given, fixed property
of X is aesthetic one moment and not the next is to preclude Jhe possibility of referring to "the aesthetic" as a
tion.
Cobb
asserts that in
"The
be a purely voluntary act, determined, that is, by the person rather than by any characteristic of the object." 20
Now
surely
object
is
characteristic of the
Cobb,
p.
181.
5.
Aesthetic Theory
142
common some
have in
interest
distinguishing
trait.
would be
He
to
Weitz
for support,
/My own
fied.
and
ositions
Cobb
art objects.
Hence
aesthetic
have in
interest
But such a
common some
distinguishing
trait
ternally inconsistent.
Cobb wished
and
the object.
I
The
have emphasized
this is
is
their propositional
which
and
character,
art object.
in.
Cobb
is
initially
hensions in the
He
mode
Aesthetic Experience
extent
rests to a great
143
upon
its
acy."
He
when an
art object
can
It
make
its full
aesthetic impact^
When
mode
this occurs
of presen-
24
its
own
tion of
is
the vision of
its
physical prehension of
thetic experience the
living
who
23.
experiences
Cobb,
24. Ibid.
p. 177.
it
Aesthetic Theory
144
it
be experienced
shape
as
an end
circuits
life
moment
insist
At the
7.
an
prehended,
by
performance
is
is
when
aesthetically
the
datum
for
ike' silt)Jective
is
which
is
objectified in the
prehended performance.
It will
insists
man who reads it towards the conman who wrote, and brings to birth in us
is
the experience
performance
is
plator,
is
and irrevocably distinguishes itself from the posiand (I have argued) Cobb.
The distinction is that between prehending an actuality
with a subjective form exhibiting the eternal object of the
subjective species, beauty, on the one hand, and prehending an objectified proposition with the subjective aim of
clearly
on the
other.
Cobb
of
it
in the
mode
aesthetic
is
of causal efficacy
is
aesthetic
." 25
would modify this doctrine of "the aesthetic" and maintain that an object, any object, be it actuality or proposition,
is
beautiful
25. Ibid.
if
Aesthetic Experience
of
it
145
shall
develop
my
is
theory of
experience of
as
of
a lure
own
process of self-crea-
prehended perform-
its
ance.
"An
rise to
an
aesthetic ex-
perience
is
fails
He asks:
jungle,
which
in a
determine the object to be aesthetic in the same degree as attention evoked by the beauty of a great
symphony? This
difficulty
which most
more
facilitates
cannot be surmounted by
aesthetic object
is
"A
the one
we may
Aesthetic Theory
1^6
27
by music or painting.
attention theory in a
manner
is
by certain
mean
qualities
intransitive attention
evoked
it,
attention.
This
is
some
28
a challenge
Cobb
himself
tries
to
meet
in terms
has been
shown that he
fails. I
believe
my own
categories
Cobb
recognizes
has to be done.
The
embodies both an objective and a subjective dibetween aesthetic and nonaesthetic attention. Turning first to the objective dimension:
the propositional character of art objects is unmistakably
an objective property of art objects and also plays an important role in distinguishing between aesthetic and non-
re-creation
mension
in the distinction
aesthetic attention.
As
objectified in a sensuous
is still
medium by
propositional.
That
work
Cobb,
28.
Ibid., pp.
p. 174.
174-75.
itself.
make
a performance,
this
is
so
is
clearly
medium with
For example, an
sure
it
isn't
the
art
ripped or
Aesthetic Experience
147
his
hasn't
tion.
examination
actuality,
is
not
not a proposi-
about the technique of an artist, is prehending an actuality, not a proposition, and his attention is nonaesthetic.
The same
is
example is that
suggested by Edward Bullough and Gertrude Lippincott
as I have quoted them in Chapter 6: the lecherous old man
in the front row who never gets beyond the ballerina's figure in his prehensions has not experienced the ballet, which
is
striking
ality of
It is true that
he
tive attention
not aesthetic.
ality
is
He
say, of delight
and
desire,
may be
as
a subjective
something
is
The
locus of beauty
is
subjective
as beautiful
perience aesthetically, as
is
is
The
its
is
clearly
if
alities;
sibly
be
aesthetic. It has
me
that bur-
Aesthetic Theory
148
may
vitiate
somewhat
my
it
last
made
medium
formal
qua
actualities
and not
Lee
to a per-
Gypsy Rose
shows such
as the
modicum
is
inserted into
aged to
is
encour-
shift
acter in a
distin-
On
parallel to
contemplation. 30 Ducasse
varieties of aesthetic
insists that
Delacroix's arguments
seem
to
me
to
show only
is
some
118.
Aesthetic Experience
[i.e.
149
not aesthetic re-creation and hence not aesmy terminology] but something
is
thetic experience, in
else.
game, a
The
thrilling rescue, or a
dramatic escape. 31
demands
that
by the performance
objectified
aim and
as the
own
i.e.
The
logically
from
ample,
it
thetic jgj^reatio n
arts. Aes-.
Dim
mentioned above,
Hon with an
prizefighter
is
art object.
The Philosophy
of Art, p. 138, n. 5.
|\
/
Aesthetic Theory
150
all its
stand
it.
The
critic's
function
is
becomes intelligible to a
Here the New Criticism has
recall,
for example,
analysis of Eliot's
sophisticated prehender.
less
it
can
of
J.
Alfred Prufrock"
Vernon Lee
in her empirical
Lee distinguishes
all
(New
in Aesthetics, pp.
istic
Discipline," from T.
M.
Greene,
ed.,
The Meaning
of the
Humanities
Problems
in Philosophy, pp.
288-95.
Aesthetic Experience
15 1
nating
holding them
them
in the
in a series of
rhythms and
memory and
coordi-
was an occasional illustration) to that constituted by all the parts, large and small, of a piece of
(this
architecture;
and these
groups of sound-relations,
made up
coordinated
architecturally
i.e.
and
accents,
it,
but in
"Hearing"
activity,
is
musical side
ments."
34
it.
35
is
"Hearers" have
perience
(in such a
way
and
of
other
moments
is
of concen-
thoughts:
tions, visual
tide
more
states,
ebbing and
into
34.
Music and
Its
p. 31.
35.
Ibid., p. 32.
Aesthetic Theory
152
nize as inattention, for which,
on the
contrary, the
stresses,
itself
an important point
that attention the
however
for
to
my
music
For these intermittently and imperfectly perceived sequences and combinations of sounds do play a very
important part in these day-dreams. By their constancy, regularity
they
make and
which these
ous
life.
and
difference
from anything
else,
and harmoni-
37
The
And
the
my
of
fore
31.
and
elevat-
Aesthetic Experience
153
of emotional
The
italicized passage
in line
is
with
39
.
my comments
above
an
is
it
personal,
first
and are
aesthetic;
ance" created by
spells of
is
though of a weaker
intensity.
Mere "overhearing"
an
is
discrimination
man who
is
habitually
in the presence of a
flies
off into
work of
of appreciation, even
it is
and analytic
if
art
is
emotional ecstasy
likely to lack
the emotion
is
depth
relevant.
But
of considering a
My
work of
italics.
39. Ibid., p. 33.
40. See above, p. 116.
Aesthetic Theory
1^4
who
is
very disconcerting to
and
eager to appreciate,
is
full of
poten-
enthusiasm.
tial
connoisseur,
may
an expert.
comments
of such
42
calls
no
less a
witness than
"...
feel, horrified
to see
how
feel,
how
cold,
thin,
how
and ought to
a critic's
void of
mind
human
sig-
As Pepper concludes,
"It
expert."
The
is
good
p.
471 ).
43
44
to indicate
my
sympathy
is
ii,
Quoted
44. Ibid.
ibid., p.
(New
108.
Aesthetic Experience
155
from any charges of overintellectualism that might be leveled at Miss Lee. The
overarching point, however, which it has been the aim of
and hence to
dissociate myself
this section to
ent theory
is
aesthetic attention.
Beauty
v.
." 45
call
eternal
objects
Beauty
is
ence" (AI 324). Whitehead makes it clear that this harmonious adaptation relates to subjective form: "the perfection of Beauty
is
Form" (AI
is
325). Beauty
which
when
defined in
is,
then, an
ingresses into
that subjective
Whitehead
in the analysis of
jective
content
writes:
may be termed
it
is
exemplification in actual
Aesthetic Theory
itj6
But
in all
its
'Beauty'
When
Cobb
in a percipient occasion.
component
in a
When
datum,
it
is
sense,
datum
ascribed to any
is
means the
functioning as a
term 'Beauti-
senses, 'beautiful'
beauty
it
is
to conceive of beauty as
erty of objects.
i.e.
as
first.
"The
is
an objective propit
subordinate to and
objective content
is
'beauti-
ful'
thetic experience.
Aesthetic Experience
157
as~is
But
abstract art
is
at a
artist. If
the
artist foregoes
him and
elects
to
compete
in
is
task in attempting to
and form.
It
the aesthetic
46
degenerates to the aesthetic indifference of burlesque.
and
this
further developinitial
discussion
shall
46.
The comparison
of course.
Helen Gardner
cites
in-
terrelationship of elements,
Aesthetic Theory
158
in the passages
is
our experience of a
is
experience which
and aesthetically re-creative exmust not be confused with the passive experience
beauty. Theodore Greene insists on this distinction.
aesthetically re-creative,
is
perience
of
and
artistic expression.
always expresses in a
tion of
some
artistic
form, of an intelligible
Is
subject-matter. It
is
artistic content.
is
expressive?
the
itself as
art.
My
artist's
meaning
47
terminology
is
different
phasizing
much
his insistence
on expression of
is
in insistI
am
em-
emphasizing with
nature
7-
by the
47.
itself
man who
The
it
be put there
man "may also see in natural beauty the expresThe Psalmist is not alone in believing that the
glory of God and that the firmament showeth His
we
ciple
indifferent
to spiritual
a divine providence, or a
and moral
we
values,
or a
satanic
cosmic prinimpulse to
Aesthetic Experience
159
mountain range,
a sunset, or a
Greene
a creative experience.
is
writes:
No
aesthetic object in
bounded by a
where the
For exends.
begins
and
question
how much
"frame,"
ample,
i.e.,
any
or a "forest glade," or a
to
be viewed
ever
is
"mountain peak,"
What are
as aesthetic objects?
aries of nature's
if
these are
the bound-
But
if
we
sup-
very act, to
we contribute, by that
whatever beauty may appear within these
boundaries.
To
tive rather
His point
is
than
this extent
strictly re-creative.
certainly correct.
As we
49
etc.,
we
enhance or detract from the mutual adaptation of the factors in our experience and hence augment or attenuate the
ingression of beauty into our experience. As was noted in
Chapter 6, 50 beauty invites attention to its object and encourages the involvement of subjective aim. Beauty also
increases resistance to reiteration. 51 But as Greene insists,
man's "aesthetic reaction to nature resembles that of the
painter and the poet rather than that of the critic. It is
predominantly an act of artistic creation, not of re-creative
discovery." 52 This point leads logically to the next chapter,
where the concept of artistic creation will be analyzed in
detail.
49. Ibid., p. 9.
50. See above, p. 119.
51. See above, p. 125.
8. Artistic
Creation
"bucket" metaphor of E.
M.
Forster.
Ortega y Gasset
sparingly
is,
poetic experience."
Thomism
It is
the
ideas can be
artistic creation.
After
ings
2.
"Notes on the Novel," The Dehumanization of Art and Other Writon Art and Culture (Garden City, Doubleday, 1956), p. 54.
Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry (New York, Meridian Books,
1957),
p. 66.
160
161
Artistic Creation
Well,
there
if
is
Thus
a place
stirs
inspiration.
soul, in the
gence
is
and poetic
Muse
of Plato to descend
a part
how
the meta-
will
Muse
man.
nate the process of artistic creation and will also relate the
theory that emerges to the doctrines of Chapters 6 and
1.
7.
Woods on
Snowy Evening"
is
one of
Precisely
Frost's reply
what does
is
mean
it
shall
suggestive
and perplex-
to say that a
poem
is
Ibid., pp.
73-74.
Aesthetic Theory
162
transmutation
this vertical
is
is
clarified
supplemented by what
shall
showing
it
if
shall
characterize
first
how
supports the
is
no longer
perceptions;
entities into
What
Evidently this
'significance'?
is
is
a funda-
mental question for the philosophy of natural knowledge, which cannot move a step until it has made up
its
mind
which
is
as to
what
meant by
is
this
'significance'
experience.
'Significance'
significance
knowledge
is
is
is
experience,
nothing
is
else
To
say that
than an apprehension of
my
and
as related.
[PNK
re-
12]
It
is
is
mutation
is
essential as
it is
when
163
Artistic Creation
made
III
clear
can be
which
and there
is
is
full, rich
experi-
only possible
when
Horizontal transmutation
is
is
is
encountered as
significant.
sions constitutive of a
it is
is
man
are
prehended
as a unity,
but
now
to the aes-
thetic
and provide
full.
Whose woods
His house
is
these are
think
know.
Aesthetic Theory
164
The
feel that
as a
all
floating
on the surface
of one's
own
sleep,
sleep.
I
I
off
second person.
we have
traced
it,
revolves,
is
the interest
would
poem man's
come
The
Library of
World
(New
York,
New
American
common
to all
men, the latter being a particular way of reacting to this fundamental dimension of experience. Frost would seem to be characterizing an awareness
of the religious dimension of experience in this precise sense.
165
Artistic Creation
encountered
this
many
experience upon
occasions under
is
The
isolating
and silencing
world's boundaries
the
initial
all
"Whose woods
these are
think
line,
know." Lead-
"The woods
are
to thrust
Horizontal transmutation
is
of ulteriority the
reading of the
reading of the
perience of the
poem then
fattens;
full
it
The
poem
aesthetic ex-
becomes
"three-di-
proposition aesthetically
re-created
as
ence; experience
is
significance,
and
extra significance
is
Aesthetic Theory
166
To
turn
now
can be exhibited by
artistic creation
transmutation in
its
Horizontal transmutation
is
re-
the source of
much
creative
ence into richer, "three-dimensional" experience. In Chapter 3 I quoted Whitehead as follows: "Consciousness flickers;
and even
at
its
brightest, there
and
of clear illumination,
perience which
tells
is
a large
of intense experience in
hension"
(PR
breadth of his horizontal transmutation. Insofar as his conscious experiences incorporate horizontally transmuted ele-
is
is
of art in the
of the
life
in
horizontal
human
human
it
[i.e.
transmutations]
soul. It concentrates
experiences selected
intensities
of
subjective
This
set of
fails.
Whiteheadian
[AI 349]
in the
8.
is
He
Edwyn
can
sometimes secure that the object has that halo of association which conwrites:
"it
artist
167
Artistic Creation
of artistic creation.
tion
a factor in
is
is
really
scientific dis-
artistic creation,
but
it
The remainder
of this chap-
clarified
physical purpose
stitutes
beauty by making
other than
7.
Expression
n. Artistic
Chapter
Chapters 6 and
itself. If
it
we do not
less definite
world of things, which the object suggests, still the fact in itself that the
object does suggest something other than itself may give us the sense that
."
we are apprehending a world other than our ordinary everyday world
.
view.
9. It
is
discovery in mathematics
is
not a matter of
arts
Morse
is
logic. It
writes:
found
is
"The
first
must play an important part. Out of an inmathematician chooses one pattern for beauty's sake,
and pulls it down to earth, no one knows how" ("Mathematics and the
Arts," Yale Review, 40 (1951), 607, quoted in Maritain, Creative Intuition
in Art and Poetry, p. 307, n. 21). The present set of categories offers an
arts.
Aesthetic Theory
168
of concrescence
its
datum
and
this
itself
in a return
to im-
consideration of
how
the
from
to
He must
which was
its
immanence
in the sim-
source.
problem is the problem of expressing that predicate, and by expressing that predicate I
I
>;_
mean
building
it
into a proposition.
zontal transmutation
10. See above, p. 57.
is
169
Artistic Creation
dimly
felt
hence
tions.
tiality
predi-
originally only
in art
is
them
The
the process
into proposi-
Consciousness requires a contrast between potenand actuality; the full conscious awareness of the
is
possible only
when
whose
logical subjects
Expression in
art,
then,
is
actuality.
is
tion which articulates the rich, yet irritatingly vague feelings arising
Frost's
poem
some
specific
at himself
him with
particular force;
mo-
ment and he
felt
what
icant,
just
Then
slowly in stages, or
maybe
it
was or
quickly
all
how
to say
at once,
he
snowstorm perhaps
first
suggested
it.
dis-
The
itself,
then
who
lacks
articulate
Aesthetic Theory
iyo
The
mutation.
reader of Frost's
poem
led
is
down
the
re-
transmutations
vealed horizontal
in.
which
when he
aesthetically
"Stopping by Woods."
is
Croce
The
some
ways very similar to those of Benedetto Croce. In the present section I will clarify my own position by indicating
some respects in which it is analogous to his theory and
some respects in which it differs from his theory. I shall begin by presenting a criticism of Croce advanced by Ernst
Cassirer;
meeting
permit
my own
me
to ex-
theory. Cassirer
writes:
In
many modern
Croce and
factor
the sensuous
[i.e.
mized. Croce
sion,
aesthetic theories
his disciples
is
especially that of
and followers
medium]
is
this material
forgotten or mini-
The mode he
takes to be irrele-
vant both for the character and for the value of the
work of
The
art.
embodiment
The
the in-
is
of this in-
material has a
philosophy
is
But in fuT
contained and ex-
pended
this process
achieved.
tion
is
art.
is
completed the
What
which
is
follows
is
artistic creation
But
When
has been
its
essence.
Artistic Creation
171
and words
are not
moments
Like Croce,
pression.
But
it
itself.
12
when
exin-
and
The whole
tations.
is
medium
is
through the
it
medium
is
there
is
di-
and
re-
expression.
The
is artistic
is
all
propositions
But
i.e.
lures
for
feeling,
media.
The
anecdotes are
An
Essay on
pp. 141-42.
Man (New
Press,
1944),
Aesthetic Theory
iy2
words."
media;
compose
artists
in their
it is
for feeling,
why
obvious then,
It is
which
and
its
mutations.
It is true,
many composers
manuscript returned.
physical
he does
medium
utilize
on
which
is
what can be
Likewise a painter
sition
He
it is
may have
medium. 13
may have
to experiment
ticulates
his
horizontal transmutation.
ture
it
in
an
whether there
is
apparent that
my
artistic proposition,
is
may be quite
when he feels a
It
and
sets
out to cap-
a painting or a statue
initially
this
mature into artistic expression as a specific aesthetic medium, physical or conceived, is bent to receive and release
them. John Hospers echoes this point:
13. John Hospers makes this distinction in defending Croce's position
from an attack similar to that of Cassirer: "The Croce-Collingwood Theory
Artistic Creation
173
wood
and medium
tuition
at
all:
in
far as art
is
if it
is still
The
in a state of
for
And
is
my
in
theory there
is
certainly
14
no whisper of
divorce,
tween the
on the
ing
other. This
my
may be
regarded as another
way
of phras-
it
is
essential,
if
one
and
fail
The Croce-Collingwood
in
two
classics
of aesthetic analysis:
Aesthetic Theory
174
that
can,
is
maintain
of the virtuoso.
tween the creative activity of the artist and that of the virtuoso. Surely any theory must be able to account for the
different senses in which Tchaikovsky and Cliburn create.
A more forceful example will make this point. Suppose for
the moment what may well in fact have been true, that
Hugo Wolf had no singing voice at all. On this supposition
it would have been impossible for him to have performed
his lieder himself. Hans Hotter, on the other hand, performs the Wolf lieder beautifully. Yet Hotter has, to my
knowledge, never composed vocal music; it can, in any
case, be assumed here that he has not. It is clear in this example that Wolf and Hotter are both creative, but in a
very different way, and theory must account for this difference. My distinction between expressing a proposition
and objectifying a proposition in a performance accounts
for this difference. If one wishes to refer to the activity of
Serkin, Cliburn, and Hotter as artistic creation, one can,
of course, do so, but in so doing there is the danger of
blurring the very real distinction that exists between the
creative activity of artist and virtuoso. In introducing the
machinery centering on the notion of horizontal transmutation I have been describing the creative activity of the
artist and not that of the virtuoso, and I will continue to
concentrate on artistic creation in what follows.
I shall, however, take a moment to adumbrate the manner in which the present theory does recognize the genius
of the virtuoso. It
is
a master craftsman,
is
a technician,
Artistic Creation
175
performer
is
consideration.
prehender of
art.
The
great artist
is
the
man who
can un-
man who
(be he performer o r
mute
it
penenre "The
gift
mutaSonTwhereas
here
is
the ability to
exploit the dim, penumbral region of horizontal transmutathe
gift of
the artist
is
tions by fixing them, b y qualifying" them to specihc~propositlollsT~Th p greaT^ eTrn^er^the one whose sensitivity tn
horizontal^ transmutation
guides
his
objectihcations
un-
power
press.
p
This view
is
my own
experi-
college classmate
men;
it
trials
and aspirations
art.
Aesthetic Theory
iy6
in his
"erfces are
above
all
required for
all
propositions in a
way
how
far
away
this
view
is
worth remarking that many individuals have concentrated in their person both the gift of the artist and the
gift of the virtuoso. I need only mention Frederic Chopin,
Martha Graham, Leonard Bernstein, Peter Ustinov, Gene
Kelly, Jose Iturbi, and Robert Frost. The fact that in the
performer arts many individuals are gifted as both artists
and virtuosos leads to the further point that in the nonIt is
performer
arts,
of notation
dium,
15.
skill
The
in controlling the
clavilux,
a keyboard
is
virtuoso.
Artistic Creation
177
Whereas
Hugo Wolf
could suc-
arts
for objectification,
it is
on expressio njand_e mphasiz ing itisjhat iLisc3allIJEHe~ un ique elementin artistic creatio n from periphery elemen ts_m_ the art p rocess^,Hospers
has
made
this
of seiz ing
point clearly.
associates the
tion.
first
When
Croce repudiates
this,
is
this
is
this reversal of
terms has
It
is
is
that of ex-
pression, then
externalizations.
the
artist's
"skill in
And
if
this
is
so,
"ability to express" as
handling a
medium"
(e.g.
those
if
it
who
talk of
were simply
294-95.
Aesthetic Theory
iy8
Like Croce,
want
my
to insist through
my own
terms in section
of this chapter.
I turn now to another, but related, aspect of the CroceCollingwood theory, the doctrine that t here are no u nexpressed artistic intuitions. Hospers writes:
Wordsworth
world
who have
many
poets in the
all.
intui-
Many
feel.
persons,
and
the
artist
is
men by
his
them (even
if
and
cousins, but
medium and
My own
nomenon
of horizontal
is
If
they were
17
as follows.
transmutation
is
The
phe-
widespread; as
297-98.
Artistic Creation
and
179
whor-in-doce's
medJurtuLxe.
logical subject
its
serves to support
the~artistic
medium which
grounde d
and he nce
transmujatioriL The
who prehends an objectified proposition aestheticprehends that performance with the subjective aim of
person
ally
re-creating in the
immediacy of
his
own
experience the
which
is
which have most likely been vague and inarticufrom a dim, penumbral region.
A final aspect of the Crocean theory that my view approximates is an aspect where I think my account proves
tation but
late feelings
refer
now
Croce,
artistic
work
of art
in the
is
mind
is
only a
mean s
deal that
if
it
when
." 1S
.
is
head
11
of Chapter 6
asleep o r
is
not
af-
Aesthetic Theory
180
component in the
ing_ has no unique
history of
an integral propositional
feel-
artist dies or
enjoys
still
its
is
still
hire
for feeling.
iv.
The
show in
what sense
is
"common
quality"
and
in
was noted
in
feelings:
'infinite'
in
is
objectively immortal as
is
'
is
that o f
God. Yet
his vision
is
his
creative
sense that
all
productive o f "the
19
Th e
activity presupposes
ligrit
artist~is~nQj&wfe-^
God
in
the same
own
is
a disc overer.
Here
must place
who
The
he discovers
art i st
my
maintains
and
a bring-
a proposition.
20
The
proposi-
181
Artistic Creation
Hon, through
its
logical subject,
stood.
Without
Nahm
tic creation.
21
related to a context;
it
can be under-
it
would
the argument used by
be unintelligible;
Milton
is
terms of which
refers to preexistents in
this
is,
in fact,
Nahm's
objection to Croce
is
built squarely
immediately) and
is
it is
it
the
datum prehended
at phase
of concrescence
which
22
Hume's^rpissing
datum prehended
in
hence _a _con23
made
in Chapter 3
ceptual r eversion. B ut the point was
that in the final analysi s Hume's dictum th at "all our
ideas, or weak perceptions, are derived from ouTlmpressions or strong perceptions" 24 remains without exception.
phase
I.
sharlp of^blu e
is
God
that
is
part of phase
writes:
David Hume, An Abstract of a Treatise of Human Nature, pubsupplement to An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding
lished as a
(New
Aesthetic Theory
182
its
The
attained.
category of reversion
is
then abolished;
God.
shall
now
re-
composed
in part of
con -
God
corporated into
t he
"t he
is
it is
sections
and
11
is
of this chapter
concentrated on hori-
is
art.
tistic cr eation
is
B ut
as
it
incomplete, foFlhp
isJbr^e^JhanJife^^The
earlier
is
nrirjjfj nri
in this se
n f jeyjiEect"
mp fW^rf
Artistic Creation
183
The
re-
embo dy
it
is
co r-
h isjic-
7^Lr~0is~coverer
tic
creation as a discovery
is
a valid insight as a
poet by God.
On
which a poem
is
way
of dis-
have
speci-
"shown"
to the
The
and, diving
a
said to
cause
it
have created
when he
as true.
it,
25
it
we
it,
be-
recognise
Aesthetic Theory
184
The metaphysical
discovery
is
justification for
somewhat
different
The concept
my
my
terminology that
cT7TOilaryof_yiejdoxton^-ei (Jhaplci
is
his
much
is
in fact a
and the
which has been luring hinT
mediu m in such a way as to un ite
^artist
when
discovers a proposition
lie
which
him
and
which the
The
whole chapter has been designed to show that divine inspiration is not something appealed to ad hoc in this system; rather, in the spirit of Maritain's exhortation, I have
shown that
it is
the underlying
God to
em pty space"
from
alized in
creation
"the
(
Go d's
is
mo st
PR^gjj)
trivial
sion ot an a ctivity
common
account ot
artistic creation.
fo~r
a ratio nal^
9-
Truth
in
Art
Whitehead's view
makes
this point
It is evident,
theories
is
arts.
Hamcommenc e by
speec h,
"To
be, or
no t to be:
."
false,
whole
thirty-five lines.
reading,
judgment
is
Surely, at
eclipsed
by aesthetic
mere
some point
is
i.
consider
a Christian meditating
is
The
purely theoretical,
He
in the
delight.
185
Aesthetic Theory
186
may ground
his
But such
a procedure
if the primary
be elements in judg-
impossible,
is
function of propositions
is
to
making
a valid protest
Whitehead
art constitute
feel-
ing.
But
this
view
raises
if
works
work of
art
common
all
to
recall
How,
Answering
of truth.
Whitehead remarks
there are
if
all,
an account
The
spells
out in detail
appearance and
quired by
The
my
reality.
art.
is
ibetween appe arance-and
ty
cial. "Truth is a qualification which appli es t o Appearanc e
alone. Reality isjust itsejfJ_ajidJrJs-nQnse nse to ask wheth er
TFTxTtrue OjJFalseTTYurhJs--rhe con formation, nf Appear-
disti nction
jince__tp Reality"
tem,
is
Chapter
reali
reality located
2 clearly
made
Truth
in Art
\\rh\tphpxc\
is
the
187
ar.rnal
cagioi^jie^^StiactiQns,
tnem
is
to
rr>
attr ibute
full
of^ c-
realityto
commit the
Chapter 3, in describing concrescence, indicated the mechanism by which complex occasions, starting with prehensions of microcosmic actual occasions, move to intellectual
trees, houses, stones, etc.
feelings of macrocosmic entities
The micfQe^me-actual--easiQns prehep ^d fit the firstph ase of c oncrescence constitute reality; the macrocosmic
entities
prehended
Is
~~
3137:
Now
dated. "In
is
nature of truth in
ance
human
its
experience, clear
primarily sense-perception"
way concrescing
occasions
as qualifications of regions"
role
as
functioning objectively. 3
The
truth
relationship
follows:
which
is
is
3.
of a prehension
itself as
2.
datum
imposes
Thus
conformally produced by
Now when
a region ap-
Aesthetic Theory
188
whether red
is
qualifying in any
the region.
If so, there
is
between
This
calls
is
which truth
in
ward,
we
literal
are using
is
But
relevant for
is
This
art.
when we
this
is
for the
Whitehead
the straightfor-
grass in paintings
The
distinct.
On
the con-
its
background of
effects fade.
The
type of
the same point in the second of his three Matchette Lectures at Weslevan
University in April i960. These stimulating lectures have not, to
knowledge, been published, but Professor Kaplan's remarks parallel
own
views in a significant
manner on
my
my
Truth in Art
this
Let
189
348]
me
my own
words. Reality
for
is
tional colors.
must
abstract.
art has
jects
The
proposition_ which
transmured mdcrocosmic
is
a given
entities
i.e.
its
work o f
logical
as
clear
sub -
and recog-
predicativ e patterns.
But they
comp atible
Lhey are
a t the microcosmic'
level
All-Day Sucker."
way
is
now open
The
rone erns
its
pearance alone, does not necessarily invo lyej-h^ attainment of truth. Appearancejs beautiful when the
qualitative objects
tual support.
It
is
evident that
when appearance
has obtained
Aesthetic Theory
igo
truth in addition to beauty,
harmony
in a wider sense
reality.
it
also involves
Beauty, there
is
pearance.
ful
The
beauty
is
s yncretism,
c?ear,
be tween_a.ppearance and
articul ate
rea lity
between the
The
same
The
ugliness involved
is
dim emotional
between appearance and reality productive of higher harmonies that transcend the discords at the level of appearance. One thinks of Richard III and Peter Breughel's "The
Blind Leading the Blind."
A final point needs to be made about this theory, a crucial point paralleling the dimension of reversions added
Truth
in Art
191
Chapter
8.
not a backward-looking,
static theory, but incorporates a dynamic thrust toward
novelty. Whitehead makes this point powerfully:
The
point
The
is
is
The new
resources
summoned up
re-
This passage
made
points
ties
it
but
di
feelings
which flow
,,
a ppeararices~~aTe~^TaLLeiied
T rTemphasizing truths of
Verbalizatio n
it
closer to consciousness
"
when
Dy~Tiorizontal
feeli ng as
t ransmutation.
opposed~to~"truth 5 of
senje_Jn_yyhic hL
new
summoned
from the depths or' reality, it goes a long way towarcLproVJding-an ailSWer to frorster's q uer y as r n "Whit^fherp is
down
theieJl
Aesthetic Theory
192
art a rebuttal of
shall turn to
an Art
some
for Life's
io.
The Function
The
of Art
not
is
basically a theory of
is
a natural
"it is
my
thesis
it is
art."
and that
shall indicate
how
life
want to point out that Whitehead himself has ofsome observations concerning the function of art.
They seem to me to be neither profound nor suggestive.
I first
fered
is
gin.
The
dire necessity;
but in
its
art
ori-
now spring from many oriand purely imaginative. But they are all
arts of civilization
gins, physical
i.
from some
Human
1958), p. 4.
*93
Aesthetic Theory
194
which
arises in
first
moments
of necessity.
life
With
be
This
is
and Freud.
totle
its
My
dissatisfaction with
stems from
it
its
The work
of Art
is
it
stands
al one,
natural.
sense ot
It gives
which
lie
ready
for
human
achievement.
[AI 348]
If this
perfections could be
tion of art,
it
men on
to greater finite
in
keeping
do in
want to point out that the categories developed in Chapter 7 above permit me to specify
a limited though important sense in which the present
theory does justice to some of the insights that are incor-
what
follows.
But
also
will try to
The Function
of Art
195
how
Reason provide
a foundation for
The Function
an Art
for Life's
of
Sake
theory.
Then
Art for
1.
will
Life's Sake
even with
trees. "It
may be
compared
among such
no
light
Whitehead
is
fully
(FR
measure of truth";
in fact,
he characterizes
as
in
thelapse
of__
uf sliuggle"
(FR
7). ^Vhite-
Aesthetic Theory
io6
statement; and the real facts easily drop out of sight under cover of that statement"
(FR
Whitehead's aim
8).
it
is
in the course of
is
Reason emerges.
tion of
I
now
active attack
(i
^to
live,
the art of
on the environment
be
and
to
in a satisfactory way,
crease in satisfaction. It
ment
that
we have
is
is
a three-fold urge:
(iii)
secondly to be alive
alive,
thirdly to acquire
an
in-
a factor in experience
which
directs
and
criticizes
the
Reason
as thus conceived
fact.
is
[FR
8]
operative in the course of events, the tendency in the universe counter to the slow decay of physical nature.
vacuitv.
Mental experience
is
in
is
repetitive,
with the
factor of anarchy.
[However]
The Function
prevent
of Art
this,]
It canalizes its
197
mentality
own
operations by
It
among
own
its
productions.
anarchic
Reason
civilizes
Reason
embodiment
^pji ned
is
th e spec ial
in us of the disci -
[FR
33-34]
I
can
now
specify the
way
in
8,
Xhe
hori-
which
are,
is
tfn
Aerefor^-sinee-the-aft
increase
in
satisfaction
There
are
human
satisfactions.
is
the
others
who
life.
enjoy
important sense
for
Life's
J(\j
Aesthetic Theory
1^8
etc.
Other
of the
vironment. 2
The
Bible,
Paradise Lost
"against
art
art "in-
men.
of
"
art does
incorporate
some
of
Sake theory
is
much
less
ob-
shall
now
perience permits
indicate
me
how my
ent theory in a manner compatible with the material presented so far in this chapter.
2.
Stephen Pepper,
pity,
gested becomes
On
a factor of
The Function
of Art
199
11.
Artists, critics,
and aestheticians
all
frequently employ
Forster,
duces Part
by words."
in
M.
II
It is
them
are
The
theory presented in
and
is
quite
say, for
common
someone
Such
if
'world,'
life."
to
man's energy,
amateur golf.
all
as
can profes-
"realm"
tlie_precise
of_arj^_js_r,a-
pable of acquiring.
Human
multaneously;
si-
people normally pursue various overlapping aims. Usually there is a^ dominant aim, directed
i.e.
at one's vocation,
which
satisfies
Aesthetic Theory
2oo
clothing,
and
Then
shelter.
community service,
etc., which in a fortunately balanced and happily endowed
existence are organized about a dominant aim which com"togetherness," this sport, that hobby,
resi-
their aims
is
that significant.
The
central point
want
to
make
is
Aesthetic experience
is
the Subjective"
t he art
itself, i.e. it
it
be experienced
if
y ou
temporarilysho rt-circuits,
arid
in
living1
ir
aesfhptiraHy
ag
shape
pn d
nn
will,
life
the longpatterns
Throughout the whole range of sensations, perceptions, and emotions which we do not class as aesthetic,
the states of consciousness serve simply as aids and
stimuli to guidance and action. They are transitory,
or if they persist in consciousness some time, they do
not monopolize the attention: that which monopolizes the attention
fecting of
states of
tude
tions,
is
something
mind we
in the
maintained towards the sensations, percepand emotions. These are no longer links in the
is
Xhe
Principles of Psychology
(New
My italics.
The Function
201
of Art
mount point
conclude
this
shall
of aesthetic experience
for Life's
1
above.
in.
Synthesis
its
subject into an
wW
Aesthetic Theory
202
rationed hy_it.
A man
championship tennis;
experiences a
work
his
of ait
bnf when he returns to his everyday life, that en c ounter with the art object remains with him as part d f
nfjirf,
the inheritance that conditions his aims. Since an art object exerts n dy n a rr"''" irn part on cons ciousness Jwhich
),
it
Fp r example,
it
is
_o f
not unreasonable to
Death
of a Sales-
Point of
shortly thereafter
^y ne
th
and unplugs one's experiences from over.ajEhing. worldly aims mav. just because o f_its success in
aesthetically
art,
j^xert
pow erjul
and
PR
372.
is
It
has been
11.
Conclusion
Early
it
The
initial
/.
-.
aw areness Chapters 9
.
I believe, lies not in this or that parbut in two major points, th__first_being
t he way the maj or themes each depend on the others an
.coalesce^ intoone~"cohe rent scheme tor interpreting the
ticular doctrine
phenomena
my
of the aesthetic
life.
Co ncrete
examples from
l>
Aesthetic Theory
204
theticians have
(f
hope, in their
and
precision,
Hulme,
from
their
in his essay
being able to convey over and state the nature of the ac-
you get
tivity
in art."
derment, he discovers:
"Now
is
that, starting
with a
dif-
is
art."
1.
Speculations, p. 146.
2.
Ibid.
3.
Ibid., p.
169.
rise to insight
my
svs-
Conclusion
205
by demonstrating
its
applicability
human
experience.
fl
Strengthen the
over-all
of organism.
4.
See above, p.
5.
appeal of
Wh itehead's
philosoph y
Bibliography
Materials on Whitehead
BOOKS BY WHITEHEAD
Adventures of Ideas, New York, Macmillan, 1933.
The Function of Reason, Boston, Beacon Press, 1958.
Modes of Thought, New York, Macmillan, 1938.
The
New
1925.
ARTICLES ON WHITEHEAD
Johnson, A. H., "Whitehead's Theory of Actual Entities,"
Lowe, Victor, "The Development of Whitehead's Philosophy," in The Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, ed. Paul A. Schilpp
(New
BOOKS ON WHITEHEAD
W., Whitehead's Theory
Brown University, 1941.
Blyth, John
idence,
Christian,
William
A.,
An
of Knowledge, Prov-
Interpretation of Whitehead's
207
Bibliography
208
Metaphysics,
Leclerc, Ivor,
millan, 1958.
Whitehead,
Stallknecht,
New
Newton
The Philosophy
of Alfred
North
Materials on Aesthetics
articles on aesthetics
Bullough, Edward, "Psychical Distance as a Factor in Art
and an Aesthetic
Cobb, John B., Jr., "Toward Clarity in Aesthetics," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 18 (1957),
169-89.
Greene, Theodore M., 'The Scope of Aesthetics," Journal
of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 8 (1950), 221-28.
Hospers, John,
of Art,"
Morse, Marston, "Mathematics and the Arts," Yale Review (1951), pp. 604-12.
"A
209
Bibliography
Weitz, Morris, "The Role of Theory in Aesthetics," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 15 (1956), 27-35.
Wimsatt,
W.
K.,
Jr.,
"The Domain
of Criticism," Journal
BOOKS ON AESTHETICS
Bell,
Clive, Art,
New
1958.
York, Ox-
New
York,
Noonday
Press,
1958.
Dorner, Alexander,
The
Way
beyond "Art,"
1st ed.
New
York,
New
New
Gasset, Ortega
1956.
New
York,
Bibliography
210
Hulme, T.
E., Speculations,
New
1924.
Jenkins,
Iredell,
Human
Enterprise,
Cam-
New
in Aesthetics,
New York,
Nahm,
The
Milton,
Hopkins University
Panofsky, Erwin,
Meaning
Garden
City,
Doubleday, 1955.
The
Life
New
York, Scrib-
ner's, 1937.
Rich, D.
C,
Santayana, George,
The Sense
Chicago
of Beauty,
New
Press,
New
1935.
York,
The Problems
Mod-
of Aes-
New
York, Mac-
millan, 1959.
211
Bibliography
Miscellaneous Materials
Bevan, Edwyn, Symbolism and Belief, Boston, Beacon
Press Paperback, 1957.
Bracker,
Frost,"
Milton,
New
Cornford, Francis M., Plato's Cosmology, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1937.
Frost, Robert, Complete Poems of Robert Frost,
Holt, 1949.
Hume, David,
New York,
An
Human
Understanding,
New
Press, 1955.
James, William,
New
York,
The
New
Literature,
1958.
"Some
New
York, Long-
Spencer,
Appleton, 1871.
New
York,
Index
140;
self-creation of,
and
n.,
Art:
process,
boundaries
9;
46
185-92
abstract art,
aesthetic
attention,
in
music,
dependent
3-4; Whitehead's
proposi-
160-84; anc^
medium, 172; as
discovery, 180-84; an<^ God,
180-84; God and reversions in,
181-84; and horizontal transmutation,
and mathe166;
vestigations,
as
and subjective
the conceived
characteristics
ics,
179-80;
artifact,
aim, 124
in,
ics,
mind,
artist's
of,
reflecting
of
harmony, 137
theory:
132-33;
'
195-98
144,
aesthetic
126-27; func-
134-42
ory,
of,
193-202; immortality
of, 124-26; as language, 150;
realm of, 199-201; and truth,
tion of,
104;
own
in-
5-6
physics,
160-61;
in
nonper-
Agency, 9
Ambiguity, the process-product, 101
Appearance: and reality, 186-92; as
arts,
sense perception,
and
rever-
sions,
187
Architecture, 128-29, 132
artistic
expression,
194
Armstrong, Louis, 129-30
zontal
213
167-70;
and
externalization,
Aristotle,
Index
214
expression (continued)
178-79; and propositions, 168-
artistic
69
unexpressed,
intuitions,
artistic
178-79
Artist, and God, 183; and performer,
108, 128-
113-27
Clavilux, 176 n.
Cobb, John
156;
134-46 passim,
presented,
134-38;
sion, conceptual
Bauhaus, 128
I,
Beautiful, the,
B., Jr.,
theory
Ballet,
n.,
173-78
ic,
155-56
III,
189-90; nat-
truthful,
thetically
ural,
iteration,
and
159;
form, 144-45,
re-
subjective
12;
and
204
Bernstein, Leonard, 176
sions, intellectual
Creativity,
as conditioned
74
n.,
69
n.,
73-74,
15-16;
versal, 21
Croce,
mate,
Criticism,
and
transcends,
n.,
147-48
artistic
creation
n.
W., 63
168-69; as re "
it
Blyth, John
65,
quiring propositions, 62
tion-negation, 63 n.
Cornford, Francis M., 40
Creation, artistic. See Art,
Consciousness,
as
ulti-
of
uni-
112,
124,
19;
universal
New, 150
Benedetto,
110,
170-180
Cassirer, Ernst,
Descartes, Rene, 12
170-73
efficient,
see
82;
Perception
of,
causal
39
Dewey, John, 10
ef-
Distance,
distance
psychical.
See
Psychical
Index
215
171, 176; "Stopping by Woods
on a Snowy Evening," 163-64
Fry, Roger, 202
M8
144-45,
T.
Eliot,
138-39, 141,
S.,
150
God, 143;
artist,
183;
180-84; an<^
31;
37-38; isolation
mode
of,
cies,
26-27;
relational
es-
and
sensa,
84
164-65; as significance,
religious,
162-63,
Expression,
manent
of ingression (subjective
tentiality,
sence
39-40; as
30
cies
and the
artistic creation,
of,
30-34,
34;
and
individual essence
and God,
vance
of,
as aboriginal instance of
creativity, 42;
final cause,
41; as im-
and the
37-38;
jects,
poten-
linking
as
as a
tiality
lure,
ciple,
prin-
third
to
creative
process,
37;
formative element,
unfettered
conceptual
as
35-40;
valuation
of,
^5
artistic.
See Art,
artistic
50
Godel's theorem, and
See
Gradation.
expression
art,
126
Eternal
objects,
graded relevance of
Extensive connection, 78
Greene,
Fallacy, intentional,
99
38-40;
and
40
Forster,
188
tant,
Robert,
161,
163-65,
Hulme, T.
Hume,
204
Imagination, tied, 68
Incoherence:
169,
defined,
14;
hori-
Index
2l6
Incoherence (continued)
17;
how
vertical), 23
Indicative feeling, 66
Intuitive
of,
59
judgments.
See
Prehen-
Monism,
sions, intellectual
Iturbi, Jose, 175,
Michelangelo, 172
Milton, John, 178
Misplaced concreteness, fallacy
176
78 n.
Munro, Thomas, 6
Johnson, A. H., 30 n.
Music: absolute,
n.
plied
117
Gene, 176
Kreiger, Murray,
Kreisler, Fritz,
138 n.
120
Nahm,
Milton, 181
Nexus: diagram
79-80 n.;
and transmutation, 72-73
Nonperformer arts: and performer
arts,
and
objects,
13032;
98,
objectifi cation
Novelty:
source
production
of,
propositions
in,
129-30
of,
19,
22;
49
graded relevance of
Lippincott, Gertrude, 109-10, 147
Lizst, Franz, 108
Lowe, Victor,
Objectification,
performer
48
Objectifications, performer
arts,
and non-
130-32
Objective immortality, 71
One. See Creativity
Ontological principle,
n.
184
Meaning, and aesthetic experience,
9,
135; and
God, 36-37
Ortega y Gasset, 160
Ousia, 11-12
158-59
Medium, the
creation,
Mental
physical,
and
artistic
Panofsky, Erwin,
170-73
by aesthetic
50
Pantomimes, 117
pole, 51
8;
as
presupposed
discourse,
3-4. See
Parmenides, 12, 14
Pepper, Stephen, 153-54, 198 n.
Perception:
mode
of
causal
efficacy,
82-87,
Index
mode
21"
of presentational immedi-
plex
societies,
83;
and com-
limitations
of,
85
Performance, as objectified proposi-
107
tion,
artist,
173-78; more
98, 130-32
Perspective,
of
immediacy
Process: and actual
presentational
entities, 9;
one,
21-23
senses of,
and aesthetic
Propositions, 46;
perience, 143; as
datum
and
56;
tions,
horizontal
abstraction),
(as
68
122-24,
and
12 ^'
logicians, 106,
7 1 185-86; as
feeling, 106, 171-72;
1
Physical recognition, 66
lures
Picasso, Pablo,
189
Plato, 40, 95, 160-61, 166
Plummer, Christopher, 121-22
86;
99-100
Pollock, Jackson,
Potentiality.
and
See
29
Eternal
pattern
57, 64-65;
of,
56-57,
of,
of art,
conceptual,
theory of, 27
65-69; and conscious
66;
and
intuitive
Reality,
beauty,
judgments, 66
first
predicative
109
Prehensions (feelings)
perceptions,
for
potentiality
intellectual,
ex-
for con-
sciousness,
48
of,
mac22-
Performer: and
mode
ception,
composing
two sub-
and
59
Reversion, conceptual, 51-53, 81; in
artistic creation, 181-84; double,
60-61
Rich, D.
C,
130
and
physical purpose, 167-68; and
and
105; unauthentic
Sensa:
tive,
66;
perceptive,
propositions,
perceptive,
66;
67-69
ic
83;
analysis
of,
societies,
47;
intensity
and contemporary
donation
hancement
of,
80
of,
of,
83,
87
regions,
n.;
en-
Index
2l8
Sensa (continued)
objects of the subjective species,
Thompson, Edmund
Togetherness, production
Serkin, Rudolf,
162-
macroscopic
63, 165
and
survival,
as
189;
Societies,
58;
and
shift
realm to
the
59-60; and
pression,
propositions,
Newton
P.,
Snowy
and
178-79;
171;
and
signifi-
163
162-63
Truth: in
dominant over
41-
140,
142;
ment
of,
thetic in
tion,
47>
l 55? enrich-
Cobb, 136;
as re-enac-
Subject-superject,
Ulteriority,
and
sig-
190
nificant,
Ultimate, category
creativity,
tivity;
of,
18-21, 43; as
undefined primitives, 20
Ustinov, Peter, 176
self-causation
of,
Superject,
satisfaction,
and valuation, 51
45
Taste,
168,
24
Woods on
realm,
161-62
creation,
"Stopping by
physical
ulteriority,
Stallknecht,
by diagrams,
clarified
all
22
of, 19,
173-74
sity
Jabez, 7
70-71
as a svn "
51
85-86
1 54
Tchaikovsky, Peter, 173-74
Index
219
his
own
beauty
6,
function of
art,
193-94
Zeno, 12
Date Due
Due
.MAY
Due
Returned
J9C
f HI
APRl\
26
hJ v*
11
Returned
991i
*jj
A Whiteheadian
aesthetic,
main
192W592YseC2
I9Z