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Whitehead at Harvard, 1924–1925

In these newly commissioned essays, leading Whitehead scholars ask a range of important questions about Whitehead’s first year of philosophy lectures. Do these lectures challenge or confirm previous understandings of Whitehead’s published works? What is revealed about the development of Whitehead’s thought in the crucial period after London but before the publication of Science and the Modern World? What should we make of concepts and terms that were introduced in these lectures but were never incorporated into subsequent publications? Also included is the text of Whitehead’s first lecture at Harvard, recently gifted to the Critical Edition, allowing for a clearer understanding of Whitehead’s plans and goals for his first course of lectures in philosophy than has previously been possible.

About the Author(s)

Brian G. Henning

Dr. Brian Henning is Professor of Philosophy at Gonzaga University and Executive Director of the Whitehead Research Project. Dr. Henning holds a M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University. He has published three books and has published articles in Process Studies, International Philosophical Quarterly, The Modern Schoolman, and Ethics & the Environment. His 2005 book, The Ethics of Creativity, won the 2007 Findlay Book Prize from the Metaphysical Society of America for the best work of metaphysics published between 2001 and 2006. He is co-editor of the Contemporary Whitehead Studies book series through Lexington Books.

Joseph Petek

Dr. Joseph Petek is the Director of Research and Publication for the Whitehead Research Project and Executive Editor for the Critical Edition of Whitehead at Gonzaga University. He has co-edited three books on Whitehead: Rethinking Whitehead’s Symbolism (2017), Whitehead at Harvard, 1924–1925 (2020), and The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, 1925–1927: General Metaphysical Problems of Science (2021). His latest book is Unearthing the Unknown Whitehead (2022), which examines the significance of Whitehead’s Harvard lectures and other previously unknown archival materials.