Abstract

To include Hegel as a process philosopher is not common, but is perfectly correct. Becoming, the unity of Being and Nothing, is the pervading principle of the dialectic, which, Hegel assures us, is in its turn “the principle of all movement, all life and all activity in the actual world”. The revival of Hegel studies in America and Britain is well under way and process studies have persisted healthily ever since the heyday of Whitehead, but this book is the first attempt, to my knowledge, to bring the two together and to establish their unity of outlook. The attempt may cause some process philosophers a degree of unease, because Hegel has so long been misunderstood as advocating an Absolute exclusive of all but apparent movement and change; and some still do similarly misunderstand Whitehead as rejecting all ultimate wholeness and finality. A book which corrects these errors and stresses the similarity and close parallelism between the thought of these two great philosophers is to be welcomed.