[MD] A fly in the MOQ ointment

[Horse]

Hi Marsha

 From wikipaedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_philosophy

*Process philosophy* (or *ontology of becoming*) identifies metaphysical 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics> reality 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality> with change 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change> and dynamism 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamism_%28metaphysics%29>. Since the 
time of Plato <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato> and Aristotle 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle>, philosophers have posited true 
reality as "timeless", based on permanent substances 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_theory>, whilst processes are 
denied or subordinated to timeless substances. If Socrates 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates> changes, becoming sick, Socrates 
is still the same (the substance of Socrates being the same), and change 
(his sickness) only glides over his substance: change is accidental, 
whereas the substance is essential. Therefore, classic ontology 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology> denies any full reality to 
change, which is conceived as only accidental and not essential. This 
classical ontology is what made knowledge and a theory of knowledge 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_knowledge> possible, as it was 
thought that a science of something in becoming was an impossible feat 
to achieve ^[1] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_philosophy#cite_note-0> .

On the contrary, Process philosophy, or an ontology of the becoming, 
does not characterize change as illusory or as purely accidental to the 
substance, as in Aristotle's thought, but as the cornerstone of reality, 
or Being (thought as Becoming). Modern process philosophers include 
Henri Bergson <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Bergson>, Charles 
Peirce <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sanders_Peirce>, John Dewey 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey>, Alfred North Whitehead 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_North_Whitehead>, Charles 
Hartshorne <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hartshorne>, Martin 
Heidegger <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger>, Friedrich 
Nietzsche <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche>, Nicholas 
Rescher <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Rescher>, and Gilles 
Deleuze <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Deleuze>, a list to which 
some add Arthur Schopenhauer 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer>, Hegel 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegel>, and even Spinoza 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinoza>. In physics Ilya Prigogine 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Prigogine>^[2] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_philosophy#cite_note-1> 
distinguishes between the `physics of being' and the `physics of becoming'.


Cheers


Horse



On 30/03/2010 11:49, MarshaV wrote:
> On Mar 30, 2010, at 6:29 AM, Horse wrote:
>    
>> Process metaphysics
> Greetings Horse,
>
>
> Since you brought it up, would you explain and give examples of process metaphysics.  Not what it might be, but what it is...
>
>
> Marsha
>    

-- 

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"... Hunter S Thompson