Thursday, December 30, 2010

Whitehead and Intensity

According to Whitehead, every Process is concrescent, and every Concrescence aims at a maximum of Intensity. By 'Intensity', he means 'Complexity', a balance between Identity and Diversity. Hence, a maximum Intensity entails a balance between a maximum Identity and a maximum Diversity. Therefore, by implication, every Concrescence aims at both a maximum Identity and a maximum Diversity. But, 'concrescence' means 'growing together', so its primary pattern is unification, not diversification. Thus, either the aim at Intensity partially contradicts the more general concrescent pattern of any Process, or the aim of a Process at maximum Intensity is the more comprehensive structure of Organism. If the latter, then Whitehead's neglect of diversifying processes in his system is otherwise pervasive, and would explain his inattention to, as previously discussed, motor processes, with are, arguably, diversifications.

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