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'Rethinking Symbolism contributes to the emergence of a "new" Whitehead fundamental to rethinking the humanities, social sciences, and the sciences. With essays by major figures in the revitalisation of Whitehead Studies, it brilliantly highlights Whitehead's thought while bringing animal studies; ethics; climate change; creatures and theology; Confucianism; and Jung into the orbit of Whiteheadian speculative thought.' James J. Bono, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York Explores the contemporary significance of Alfred North Whitehead's Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect Exciting insights are offered in this new examination of Whitehead's Barbour-Page lectures that were published as Symbolism, offering contemporary implications of his views on symbolism in an era of new scientific, cultural and technological developments. This collection of 11 essays by leading Whitehead scholars relates the themes of Whitehead's book to a range of contemporary discussions and debates, reinvigorating the relevance of Whitehead's philosophy. It also serves as a critical point of entry into Whitehead's more lengthy and complex work such as Process and Reality, and to his work as a whole. Roland Faber is the Kilsby Family/John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor of Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology and Founder of the Whitehead Research Project. Jeffrey A. Bell is Professor of Philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University. Joseph Petek is a doctoral student in process thought at Claremont School of Theology. Cover image: from Principia Mathematica, Second Edition, Volume 1, 1925, Cambridge University Press Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN [PPC] 978-1-4744-2956-6 ISBN [cover] 978-1-4744-2957-3 Barcode
List of contents
Notes on the Contributors
Abbreviations
Introduction
Joseph PetekPart I: Perception and Paradox
1. Whitehead on Causality and Perception
Steven Shaviro
2. Originary Symbolism: Whitehead, Deleuze, and the Process View on Perception
Keith Robinson
3. Uniting Earth to the Blue of Heaven Above: Strange Attractors in Whitehead's
SymbolismRoland FaberPart II: Adventures in Culture and Value4. The Inhumanity of Symbolism
Michael Halewood
5. Reverence, Revision, and Creaturely Life: Whitehead's Political Theology of Enjoyment
Beatrice Marovich
6.
Ren and Causal Efficacy: Confucians and Whitehead on the Social Role of Symbolism
Hyo-Dong Lee
7. Avoiding a Fatal Error: Extending Whitehead's Symbolism Beyond Language
Sheri KlingPart III: Misplaced Concreteness in Ethics and Science8. A Dog's Life: Thought, Symbols, and Concepts
Jeffrey Bell
9. From Manipulation to Co-Creation: Whitehead on the Ethics of Symbol Creation
Luke Higgins
10. On Symbols, Propositions, and Idiocies: Toward a Slow Technoscience
Adam Nocek
11. Of Symbolism: Climate Concreteness, Causal Efficacy, and the Whiteheadian Cosmopolis
Catherine KellerNotes on the Contributors
Index
About the author
Roland Faber is the Kilsby Family/John B. Cobb Jr Professor of Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology and Founder of the Whitehead Research Project. His research and publication is in Whitehead's philosophy, Process Philosophy and Process Theology; De/constructive Theology; Poststructuralism (Gilles Deleuze); Transreligious Discourse and interreligious applications (e.g., Christianity, Buddhism, Baha'i Faith); Comparative Philosophy and Mysticism; and Theopoetics. His publications include
The Becoming of God (Cascade Books, 2017),
The Divine Manifold (Lexington Books, 2014) and
God as Poet of the World (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008).
Jeffrey A. Bell is Professor of Philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Deleuze and Deleuze and Guattari, including
Deleuze and Guattari's What is Philosophy?: A Critical Introduction and Guide (Edinburgh University Press, 2016),
Deleuze's Hume (Edinburgh University Press, 2008),
Philosophy at the Edge of Chaos (University of Toronto Press, 2006) and
The Problem of Difference: Phenomenology and Poststructuralism (University of Toronto Press, 1998). Bell is co-editor with Paul Livingston and Andrew Cutrofello of
Beyond the Analytic-Continental Divide: Pluralist Philosophy in the Twenty-First Century (Routledge, 2015) and with Claire Colebrook of
Deleuze and History (Edinburgh University Press, 2009).
Joseph Petek is Assistant Editor and Archivist at the Whitehead Research Project, Claremont School of Theology.
Summary
11 essays by leading Whitehead scholars re-examinae Whitehead s Barbour-Page lectures, published as the book Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect in 1927, to give you exciting insights into the contemporary implications of Whitehead's symbolism in an era of new scientific, cultural and technological developments.
