A. N. Whitehead and Social Theory : Tracing a Culture of Thought

The contemporary importance of A. N. Whitehead (1861-1947) lies in his direct yet productive challenge to the culture of thought inherent in modernity that suffuses science, social theory and philosophy alike. Unlike the more destructive aspects of post-modernism and post-structuralism, Whitehead#x19;s diagnosis of the conceptual fault-lines of the modern era does not entail a passive relativism, nor does it assign a negative role to thought. Instead, he calls for a renewal of critical thinking. Whitehead#x19;s own, positive, philosophical approach is based on becoming, relativity, and a re-conception of subjectivity and the social. This book outlines Whitehead#x19;s thought and uses it to re-orient a range of specific questions within contemporary social theory, namely: the relation of language and the body; the individual and society; sexual difference and conceptions of nature; the question of realism; the concept of the social; and viewing capitalism as process. It also provides detailed analyses and comparisons of Whitehead#x19;s concepts with those of Judith Butler on materiality and the body, and those of Luce Irigaray on nature, essentialism and sexual difference.