The Unity of the Universe, According to Alfred N. Widtehead [Second Installment]

THE UNITY IN THE UNIVERSE, ACCORDING TO ALFRED N. WIDTEHEAD [Second Installment] III THE UNITY OF THE UNIVERSE IN discussing the unity of the universe according to Mr. Whitehead, one meets with a fundamental di'fficulty. He distinguishes between that universe which is "our present cosmic epoch," and the larger environment in which the present epoch is placed.90 The latter would have to be included in the usual sense of the term " universe." He also holds that the present universe is only a stage !n the dynamic development of things. The present type of order in the world has arisen from an unimaginable past, and it will find its grave in an unimaginable future.91 Concerning the larger universe it is admitted that we know but little, and of that little, less is known with certainty. We have only the realm of eternal objects , creativity, and God, upon whose wisdom all forms of order depend. These we may know with certainty. For Mr. Whitehead's purposes, however, the inquiry must necessarily be limited. He is an empiricist in philosophy, just as he used empirical methods in physics and the natural sciences. Since what is known empirically is the only certainty, one has no right to extend his conclusions concerning the present cosmic epoch to what is only suspected or surmised concerning the whole larger universe.92 The only course open to-us is to consider the doctrine as it is presented by Mr. Whitehead, concerning the :present cosmic 00 Process and Reality, p. 185. 01 Religion in the Making, p. 160. ""Ibid. 318 THE UNITY IN THE UNIVERSE 819 epoch. Hence the term " universe " as used in this study will be taken to mean the present cosmic epoch, unless it is clearly seen that it is to be referred to the ensemble of the unimaginable past and future and the known present. The question will be treated in three parts: 1. The unity found in individual actual entities of the umverse. 2. The order of nature, a unity of external relations. 8. The universe as prehensively one in the consequent nature of God. 1. The Unity of Individual Actual Entities in the Universe According to Mr. Whitehead, the business of philosophy is to explain the emergence of the more abstract things from the more concrete things.93 Hence philosophy is primarily interested in explaining the unity of the universe which results from the union of its component elements. The theory is dynamistic in character. It begins with the multiplicity of actual entities which become one. " It lies in the nature of things that the many enter into complex unity." 9' The task of philosophy is to explain the emergence of the one from the many, rather than the process by which the many are derived from one. Since, however, the many do not simply become one, the flux is also in the opposite direction. The one becomes many, and the many become one. Mr. Whitehead devotes his efforts mainly to the explanation of the former process, the concrescence of the multiple into unity. The purpose of this study is limited to the same process: How is the multiplicity united to form one universe? In the first place this activity should be considered in microcosm , as the single actual entity evolves from the multiplicity of its component data. The process of " objectification" then continues until all the individual entities of the world are uni- •• Process and Reality, p. 27. •• Ibid., p. 28. 320 EDWARD J. LINTZ fied in the one consequent nature of God. The process does not stop there. For the perfected actuality passes back into the temporal world, and qualifies the world so that each temporal actuality includes it as an immediate fact of relevant experience. For the Kingdom of Heaven is with us today. The action of (this) fourth stage is the love of God for the world. It is the particular providence for particular occasions. What is done in the world is transformed into a reality in heaven, and the reality in heaven passes back into the world. By reason of this reciprocal relation the love in the world passes into the love of heaven, and...