The multiverse conjecture: Whitehead's cosmic epochs and contemporary cosmology

Recent developments in cosmology and particle physics have led to\ud speculation that our universe is merely one of a multitude of universes. While\ud this notion, the multiverse hypothesis, is highly contested as legitimate science,\ud it has nonetheless struck many physicists as a necessary consequence of the effort\ud to construct a final, unified theory. In Process and Reality (1929), his magnum\ud opus, Alfred North Whitehead advanced a cosmology as part of his general metaphysics\ud of process. Part of this project involved a theory of cosmic epochs which\ud bears a remarkable affinity to current cosmological speculation. This paper demonstrates\ud how the basic framework of a multiverse theory is already present in\ud Whitehead???s cosmology and defends the necessity of speculation in the quest for\ud an explanatory description

Whitehead and Bradley: a comparative analysis

The present study attempts to examine the affinities and contrasts\ud in the metaphysical systems of A. N. Whitehead and F. H. Bradley.\ud As a comparative analysis, however, the study does not attempt\ud to give equal attention to every aspect of both thinkers;\ud rather, its primary concern is the influence of Bradley on Whitehead\ud and the problems that bind them together under the genre of\ud philosophical idealism. But aside from this historical concern, the\ud book also attempts to work out solutions to metaphysical problems,\ud especially those that occur where process philosophy and\ud absolute idealism conflict. I generally defend Whitehead's view\ud where conflict does arise, but I am not a follower of the\ud Whiteheadian school that has formed in praise of his thought.\ud Nevertheless, unlike the vast majority of analytic philosophers\ud working in the field today, I do not think that total neglect is the\ud proper approach to appreciating his genius. In my view, Whitehead\ud and Bradley rank among the greatest thinkers in the Western\ud tradition alongside of Descartes, Kant, Hume, Leibniz, Spinoza,\ud and Hegel