View source for Alfred North Whitehead

{{Infobox person
| name = Alfred North Whitehead
| born = 15 February 1861
| died = 30 December 1947
| nationality = British
| occupation = Mathematician; philosopher
| known_for = Mathematical logic; process philosophy; philosophy of science
| notable_work = ''Principia Mathematica''; ''Process and Reality''
}}


'''Alfred North Whitehead''' was a mathematician and philosopher whose work addressed logic, mathematics, and metaphysics. His career spans formal logical analysis and later speculative philosophical systems.

His writings reflect a transition from collaboration in foundational logic to independent work in metaphysics and the philosophy of nature.

== Early life and education ==
Whitehead was born in Ramsgate, England, and educated at Sherborne School before attending the University of Cambridge. He studied mathematics and remained at Cambridge as a fellow and lecturer.

His early academic work focused on mathematical reasoning and pedagogy.

== Work in logic ==
Whitehead collaborated with Bertrand Russell on ''Principia Mathematica'' (1910–1913), an attempt to derive mathematics from logical principles using a formal system.

The project addressed foundational issues in mathematics but relied on complex axiomatic structures and assumptions.

== Shift in philosophical focus ==
After completing ''Principia Mathematica'', Whitehead gradually moved away from formal logic toward broader philosophical questions. His later work examined the structure of reality, change, and process.

This shift marked a departure from the methods dominant in early analytic philosophy.

== Process philosophy ==
Whitehead developed a metaphysical framework often referred to as process philosophy, in which reality is described in terms of events and relations rather than static substances.

These ideas were presented in works such as ''Process and Reality'' (1929).

== Philosophy of science ==
Whitehead addressed the conceptual foundations of modern science, including the interpretation of space, time, and causation. He engaged with developments in physics and sought to integrate scientific findings into a broader philosophical account.

His approach differed from both strict formalism and empiricism.

== Relationship to institutions ==
Whitehead held academic positions in Britain and later in the United States, including at Harvard University. He taught and published regularly during his later career.

He did not maintain a single disciplinary identity, moving between mathematics, philosophy, and science.

== Limits and uncertainty ==
Whitehead’s later metaphysical system has been interpreted in multiple ways, and its technical coherence remains debated. Some aspects of his work resist formalization.

As a result, his philosophical position is not uniformly classified.

== Status ==
Alfred North Whitehead is regarded as a significant figure in both mathematical logic and twentieth-century metaphysics. His work continues to be discussed in philosophy of science and process-oriented approaches.

== Related topics ==

[[Logic]]

[[Process philosophy]]

[[Philosophy of science]]

[[Metaphysics]]

[[Category:Philosophers]]
[[Category:British philosophers]]
[[Category:Mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century philosophy]]