The status of sensa in Whitehead's philosophy

The purpose of this study was to explicate the status of sensa in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Two main motivations lay behind this endeavor. . First, though much scholarship has been devoted toward Whitehead's doctrine of eternal objects, little effort has been made to expound upon sensa, which form the simplest class of eternal objects. Therefore, this study attempted to correct this oversight. . Second, it has been widely recognized that Whitehead's theory of perception is fundamental to his philosophy. Because sensa are for Whitehead a necessary component in any case of perception, this fact provided added impetus for this study.

The primary research sources for this study were the major works of Alfred North Whitehead. In addition, several prominent secondary works were consulted, as well as some relevant journal articles. The method of exegesis was to trace the development of the concept of sensa from Whitehead's early writings to his mature position in his central work, Process and Reality. Thereafter, some of the results of that exegesis were applied to a controversy between Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne on the nature of sensa in order to discover if that exegesis could lend enlightenment to that controversy.

Sensa were found to function in Whitehead's iii

iv philosophy as potential conveyors of experience. They were found to be invested with individual and relational essences, the same as any eternal objects. However, the individual essences of sensa were discovered to be conceptually attributed to those entities independently of their relational essences, which cannot be held of more complex eternal objects. As regards contemporary discussions of sensa in Whitehead's philosophy, it was shown that oversight of this conceptual attribution of their individual essences has muddled attempts toward a correct exegesis of sensa. In addition, a brief defense of the superiority of Whitehead's doctrine of sensa over Hartshorne's doctrine of sense-qualities was attempted.

This study sought to contribute toward a more complete understanding of the status of sensa in Whitehead's philosophy. Since this study attempted to explicate the concept of sensa in Whitehead's philosophy in a general way, more specific functions of sensa in his philosophy have been left unexpounded. However, because all specific functions of sensa in Whitehead's philosophy presuppose this prior, general status, the goal of this work has been suitably accomplished.