Alfred North Whitehead was a British Mathematician who is known for his
tremendous contributions in algebra, logic, foundations of mathematics,
philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, and education. Although
Whitehead was a scientist whose areas of expertise were maths and
physics, yet his outlook towards these subjects were philosophical than
purely scientific. Whitehead was born in Britain but lived a
considerable part of his life in the United States of America serving as
a teacher of Philosophy at Harvard and engage himself in a wide range
of humanitarian acts. Whitehead is also famous for co-authoring the
historical “Principia Mathematica” with Bertrand Russell. Bertrand
Russell and Willard Van Orman Quine had carried on with their doctoral
dissertations under Whitehead’s supervision. Whitehead introduced logic
and analytic philosophy in a brand new way. Whitehead taught physics,
the philosophy of science, and the theory and practice of education at
University College London and Imperial College London.
Alfred North Whitehead Childhood & Early Years
Alfred North Whitehead was born on 15 February 1869 in Ramsgate,
Kent, England in an affluent family where his father and uncles were
vicars. Whitehead’s family was dedicated entirely to the Church of
England. His grandfather was an influential man who had founded Chatham
House Academy but as a kid, Whitehead was sent to another very posh
publish school, Sherborne School, Dorset in South England. Whitehead got
a reserved childhood at home but in school he was known to be good in
sports, and mathematics. Whitehead was bright and popular in school as
he was the head prefect of his class.
Whitehead completed his matriculation from Trinity College,
Cambridge in 1880. He received his BA in 1884. In 1884, Whitehead was
chosen as the fellow of Trinity College and he started teaching and
writing on mathematics till 1910.
Career
Whitehead spent the whole of 1890s writing his mathematical book,
‘Treatise on Universal Algebra’ which was published in 1898. He spent
the whole of 1900 with his student Bertrand Russell in coming out with
the first edition of ‘Principia Mathematica’ which was published in
1910, 1912, and 1913. ‘Principia Mathematica’ was a three volume work on
the foundation of mathematics whose second edition was brought out in
1927.
Personal Life
Whitehead married Evelyn Wade, an Irish woman brought up in France,
in 1890. Together the couple had three children, one daughter and two
sons. He lost one of his sons while the latter served in the Royal
Flying Corps during World War I. Alfred North Whitehead resigned from
his position in Trinity College in 1914 in protest of the dismissal of a
colleague because of an adulterous affair.
Interests
Whitehead had remained interested in theology throughout his life
(because of his catholic background) which resulted in his keenness to
get inclined towards Roman Catholicism. It was before the World War I
began that he started calling himself agnostic. Much later in his life
Whitehead came back to religious beliefs.
Whitehead was pursuing his fellowship when he was deeply influenced
by physics. His dissertation examined James Clerk Maxwell's views on
electricity and magnetism thus making him a physics enthusiast.
Whitehead had been a guiding light in the field of mathematics and
physics but his approach had remained extremely philosophical than
scientific. He delved into the varied scope and nature of the subjects
than into the deep clusters of tenets and theories. Such was his varied
interest that he had been the President of the ‘Aristotelian Society for
the Systematic Study of Philosophy’ from 1922 to 1923.
Contributions
Whitehead was a teacher and a notable writer of physics, the
philosophy of science, and the theory and practice of education at
University College London and Imperial College London from 1910 and
1926. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1903 and had been
elected to the British Academy in 1931.
Whitehead had formulated a rival doctrine to Einstein's general
relativity. He worked on this area to come out with his more significant
work, ‘Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge’ (1919)
which was an exemplary attempt to synthetize the philosophical
underpinnings of physics. Although the work has not changed the path of
modern day physics but it has been considered a great approach by
Whitehead.
He addressed the Mathematical Association of England with his ‘’
The Aims of Education’ in 1916 and brought out the book with the same
name in 1929. In this book and in his address Whitehead discussed and
greatly criticised the existing teachers in Great Britain who neither
cared for their culture nor for the students’ self-education. In his
popular speech Whitehead had said, “Culture is activity of thought, and
receptiveness to beauty and humane feeling. Scraps of information have
nothing to do with it”.
In 1924 Whitehead was invited by Henry Osborn Taylor to dictate and
share his ideas and also teach philosophy at Harvard University. As the
subject was a soft point in Whitehead’s life he rightly accepted the
offer living and spending the rest of his life in the United States.
Ideas
Whitehead was a pioneer in mathematics and philosophy. He started
viewing the world differently after the shocking collapse of Newtonian
physics which took place mostly due to Albert Einstein's work. Whitehead
started out on his metaphysical views in the 1920s by bringing out ‘The
Concept of Nature’. He further expanded his ideas in his 1925 ‘Science
and the Modern World’ which brilliantly assesses the history of ideas
and the role of science and mathematics in the rise of Western
civilization. In 1927 Whitehead was invited to lecture on the Gifford
Lectures at the University of Edinburgh which were later published in
1929 as Process and Reality upholding process philosophy that till today
remains a major contribution in Western metaphysics.
Works
A Treatise on Universal Algebra with Applications - 1898
An Introduction to Mathematics - 1911
The Organization of Thought Educational and Scientific - 1917
The Principle of Relativity with Applications to Physical Science - 1922
Principia Mathematica (with Bertrand Russell) - 1925
Science and the Modern World - 1925
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge - 1925
Religion in the Making - 1926
Symbolism, Its Meaning and Effect - 1927
Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology - 1929
The Aims of Education and Other Essays - 1929
Adventures of Ideas - 1933
Nature and Life - 1934
Modes of Thought - 1938
Essays in Science and Philosophy - 1947
The Wit and Wisdom of Whitehead - 1947
Death
Alfred North Whitehead died 30 December 1947.
