Last revised 03:01:05
A module of the BA Philosophy programme
Institute of Environment Philosophy and Public Policy | Lancaster University | e-mail philosophy@lancaster.ac.uk
“The primary qualities are the essential qualities of substances whose
spatio-temporal relationships constitute nature. The orderliness of these relationships
constitutes the order of nature. The occurances of nature are in some way apprehended
by minds, which are associated with living bodies…But the mind in apprehending
also sensations which, properly speaking, are qualities of the mind alone. These
sensations are projected by the mind so as to clothe appropriate bodies in external
nature. Thus the bodies are perceived as with qualities which in reality do
not belong to them, qualities, which in fact are purely the offspring of the
mind. Thus nature gets credit which should in truth be reserved for ourselves;
the rose for its scent: the nightingale for its song: and the sun for its radiance.
The poets are entirely mistaken. They should address the lyrics themselves,
and should turn them into odes of self-congratulation on the excellency of the
human mind. Nature is a dull affair, soundless, scentless, colourless; merely
the hurrying of material, endless and meaningless.”
Alfred North Whitehead, The Concept of Nature, Cambridge, 1920, CUP.
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A module of the BA Philosophy programme Institute of Environment Philosophy and Public Policy | Lancaster University | e-mail philosophy@lancaster.ac.uk |