The Lure of WhiTehead The Lure of WhiTehead NichoLas GaskiLL and a. J. Nocek, editors University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis London Chapter 1 was previously published as “A Constructivist Reading of Process and Reality,” Theory, Culture & Society 25, no. 4 (July 2008): 91–1 10; reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. Chapter 3 was previously published as What Is the Style of Matters of Concern? (Assen, Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 2008). Copyright 2014 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401– 2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The lure of Whitehead / Nicholas Gaskill and A. J. Nocek, editors. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8166-7995-9 (hc : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8166-7996-6 (pb : alk. paper) 1. Whitehead, Alfred North, 1861–1947. I. Gaskill, Nicholas, b. 1981, editor. B1674.W354L87 2014 192—dc23 2014002119 Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer. 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 contents Acknowledgments vii Abbreviations ix Introduction An Adventure of Thought 1 Nicholas Gaskill and A. J. Nocek Part i sPecuLaTioN beyoNd The bifurcaTioN one A Constructivist Reading of Process and Reality 43 Isabelle Stengers two Scientism and the Modern World 65 Jeffrey A. Bell three What Is the Style of Matters of Concern? 92 Bruno Latour four The Technics of Prehension: On the Photography of Nicholas Baier 127 Nathan Brown Part ii The MeTaPhysics of creaTiviTy five Whitehead’s Involution of an Outside Chance 157 Peter Canning six Multiplicity and Mysticism: Toward a New Mystagogy of Becoming 187 Roland Faber SEVEN The Event and the Occasion: Deleuze, Whitehead, and Creativity 207 Keith Robinson EIGHT Whitehead and Schools X, Y, and Z 231 Graham Harman NINE Whitehead’s Curse? 249 James Williams TEN Cutting Away from Smooth Space: Alfred North Whitehead’s Extensive Continuum in Parametric Software 267 Luciana Parisi Part iii Process ecoLoGy ELEVEN Possessive Subjects: A Speculative Interpretation of Nonhumans 299 Didier Debaise TWELVE Another Regard 312 Erin Manning thirteen Of “Experiential Togetherness”: Toward a More Robust Empiricism 332 Steven Meyer fourteen The Order of Nature and the Creation of Societies 360 Michael Halewood fifteen Imaginative Chemistry: Synthetic Ecologies and the Construction of Life 379 A. J. Nocek Contributors 415 Index 419 acknowledgments Whitehead’s philosophy of organism tells us that nothing is what it is outside of the relations it holds to a wider environment. This idea has been made even more vivid for us in the process of editing this book. From start to finish, we benefited from the advice, enthusiasm, provocations, and generosity of a host of friends and colleagues, without whom The Lure of Whitehead would not be what it is. Gregory Flaxman deserves special rec- ognition; without his prompting, we never would have met one another let alone pursued his suggestion of editing a volume on Whitehead. We are deeply grateful for his guidance and friendship. Douglas Armato has been a supportive and energetic editor from the moment we approached him about the book, and Danielle Kasprzak provided quick and essential ad- vice on practical matters without ever showing exasperation at our many questions and emails. The readers for the University of Minnesota Press offered encouraging and helpful suggestions on how to develop the volume. Because of their reports, the final collection is a stronger and more compre- hensive account of the new interest in Whitehead than the one we ini- tially proposed. We are grateful to Gwendolen Muren, who assisted in the early stages of formatting and proofreading, as well as to Katherine Hunt and Kyla Schuller, whose late- stage edits sharpened our Introduc- tion. Each of us would also like to thank the institutions that provided us with the time and resources to develop this project: Nicholas thanks the Society of Fellows at the University of Chicago and the Department of English at Rutgers University; Adam thanks the Comparative History of Ideas Program and the comparative literature department at the University of Washington. vii viii ackNoWLedGMeNTs One of the most exciting aspects of assembling this volume has been delving into the adventure of Whiteheadian thought. In this enterprise, each of us benefited greatly from conversations and engagements with our colleagues. Nicholas would especially like to thank Michael Thomas for his diligence and insight during a year of reading through Whitehead’s works, as well as the short- lived “Occasionalists” group at the University of North Carolina for meeting Whitehead’s strange philosophy with patience and curiosity. Colin Jager and Margaret Ronda, at Rutgers, and the members of the Society of Fellows at the University of Chicago all offered a helpful mix of interest and skepticism as we framed our Introduction. Adam would like to thank both Gregory Flaxman and Gregg Lambert for their continued sup- port and guidance during the writing and revising process. He also thanks Phillip Thurtle, whose friendship and mentorship proved invaluable for thinking about Whitehead and biology outside pre established frame- works. And without fellowship assistance from the “Biological Futures in a Globalized World” initiative, jointly sponsored by the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center and the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the Universi- ty of Washington, the time and energy required for this project would never have been possible. Finally, Nicholas thanks his ever- supportive family for their ongoing en- couragement and love. He also thanks William T. Myers for introducing him to Whitehead’s philosophy more than a decade ago; without that initial lure, this volume could not possibly have taken the form that it has. Adam would like to offer a special thanks to his loving wife, Stacey, for her en- couragement, guidance, and never- ending belief in his ability to succeed, along with his two girls, Fiona and Ivy, for the love and laughter they bring into his life. abbreviations AI Adventures of Ideas (New York: The Free Press, 1967 [1933]) CN The Concept of Nature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964 [1920]) FR The Function of Reason (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1929) MT Modes of Thought (New York: The Free Press, 1968 [1938]) PR Process and Reality: Corrected Edition, ed. D. R. Griffin and D. W. Sherburne (New York: The Free Press, 1978 [1927– 28]) RM Religion in the Making (New York: Fordham University Press, 1996 [1926]) S Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect (New York: Fordham University Press, 1985 [1927]) SMW Science and the Modern World (New York: The Free Press, 1967 [1925]) ix