Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, 1925 - 1927

This second volume in the critical edition reproduces more than 170 lectures delivered by Alfred North Whitehead at Harvard during his second and third years. For the first time, readers will be able to see the development of Whitehead’s philosophy during the crucial period between the publication of Science and the Modern World and his delivery of the Gifford lectures that would become Process and Reality, as he tests his theories in a classroom setting. These student notes provide the long-missing window into critical developments in Whitehead’s thinking during this time. They challenge longstanding speculations about when exactly Whitehead developed some of his most famous metaphysical concepts, as well as how those concepts are to be properly interpreted against the wider backdrop of his life and thought. Also included is a transcript of the only known lecture Whitehead delivered on the topic of ethics, two mid-year exams given to his students, and nearly 2,000 footnotes that provide additional context for the lectures and alternative student accounts of key passages.

Brian G. Henning is Professor of Philosophy and of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Gonzaga University and Executive Director of the Whitehead Research Project. Dr. Henning holds a M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University. He is author or editor of fifteen books and more than thirty-five articles and chapters. His 2005 book, The Ethics of Creativity (University of Pittsburgh Press), won the 2007 Findlay Book Prize from the Metaphysical Society of America for the best work of metaphysics published between 2001 and 2006. He is the Founder and General Editor of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead. Joseph Petek is the Director of Research and Publication of the Whitehead Research Project of Gonzaga University and Executive Editor of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead. He has co-edited three books on Whitehead: Rethinking Whitehead’s Symbolism (2017), Whitehead at Harvard, 1924–1925 (2020), and The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead, 1925–1927: General Metaphysical Problems of Science (2021). His latest book is Unearthing the Unknown Whitehead (2022), which examines the significance of Whitehead's Harvard lectures and other previously unknown archival materials. George Lucas is Distinguished Chair of Ethics and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at The United States Naval Academy. He is General Editor of The Edinburgh Critical Edition of the Complete Works of Alfred North Whitehead.