Process Philosophy
Process Philosophy (also ontology of becoming or processism) is an approach in philosophy that identifies processes, changes, or shifting relationships as the only real experience of everyday living. In opposition to the classical view of change as illusory (as argued by Parmenides) or accidental (as argued by Aristotle), process philosophy posits transient occasions of change or becoming as the only fundamental things of the ordinary everyday real world.
Since the time of Plato and Aristotle, classical ontology has posited ordinary world reality as constituted of enduring substances, to which transient processes are ontologically subordinate, if they are not denied. If Socrates changes, becomes sick, Socrates is still the same (the substance of Socrates being the same), and change (his sickness) only glides over his substance: change is accidental, and devoid of primary reality, whereas the substance is essential.
In physics, Ilya Prigogine distinguishes between the “physics of being” and the “physics of becoming”. Process philosophy covers not just scientific intuitions and experiences, but can be used as a conceptual bridge to facilitate discussions among religion, philosophy, and science.
Process philosophy is sometimes classified as closer to continental philosophy than analytic philosophy, because it is usually only taught in continental philosophy departments. However, other sources state that process philosophy should be placed somewhere in the middle between the poles of analytic versus continental methods in contemporary philosophy.
Different words for a process in philosophical traditions include becoming, flux, event, occurrence, dynamism, and change. These terms emphasize the dynamic, ever-changing nature of reality, contrasting with the traditional focus on static, permanent “being” or “substance”. For instance, a philosopher might describe an individual not as a static substance, but as a continuous “process” or “flux” of events.
Words for a process
- Becoming: Highlights the ongoing transformation from what one was to what one will be.
- Flux: Refers to a continuous flow or change, as seen in Heraclitus’s idea that one cannot step into the same river twice.
- Event: Positions reality as a series of happenings rather than a collection of stable objects.
- Occurrence: Similar to “event,” it emphasizes that reality is composed of dynamic, temporal “occurrences”.
- Dynamism: Describes the inherent energy and motion that characterize all of reality.
- Change: A straightforward term for alteration and transformation, central to process thought.
- Process-relational: A concept that views processes and their relationships as the fundamental building blocks of reality, rather than separate entities.
- Prehension: A Whiteheadian term for how an event perceives or “grasps” the world, highlighting a dynamic, rather than static, interaction.
Contrast with traditional philosophy
- Substance: The traditional Western philosophical focus on stable, unchanging “being” or “substance” is contrasted with the process view that reality is fundamentally in flux.
- Being: The static state of existing is opposed by process philosophy’s focus on the dynamic state of “becoming”.
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://iep.utm.edu/processp/
[2] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/process-philosophy/
[3] https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/15737/what-exactly-is-process-philosophy
[4] https://philevents.org/event/show/140618
[5] wikipedia/en/Process_philosophy
[6] https://study.com/academy/lesson/process-philosophy-overview-history.html
[7] https://www.britannica.com/topic/process-philosophy
[8] https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2002/entries/process-philosophy/