The Philosophy of Whitehead by Mays W W.;

Author:Mays, W, W.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1702309
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

II

We come now to consider Whitehead's discussion of ‘propositions’ and ‘propositional feelings’ and their relationship to perception. A proposition in this particular context plays a somewhat different role than it usually does in most philosophical discussions. Whitehead conceives it as a combination of the structural elements we have been talking about: (a) the regional space-time position (the logical subject) and (b) the eternal object or sense-quality (the predicative pattern). The qualification of (a) by (b) gives rise to a perceptual proposition, namely some specific sensory quality located at a definite place and time.

Despite Whitehead's unusual use of the term ‘proposition’ to refer to perceptual data, this usage is not entirely unjustified. Whitehead considers the eternal object (predicative pattern), for example, ‘blue’, to be an attribute which we can express in the form of øx (or x is blue). If we substitute for the variable x some definite spatio-temporal region (or logical subject), thus giving the predicate a definite spatio-temporal determination, we then deal with a particular quality characterizing a specific place and time. One can thus readily understand why Whitehead calls such a characterized region a proposition. In a sense it would seem to be a translation of the Aristotelian S-P form of proposition on to a perceptual basis. Indeed Whitehead might claim that the logical concept is derivative from the perceptual one.

Further, according to Whitehead, not only do we think symbolically, but we also perceive by means of symbols. The coloured shapes we observe in our perceptual field are merely symbols for the primitive feeling elements in our experience which, he believes, give us direct awareness of the physical events in nature. For example, we may be walking along a street, when suddenly we observe in front of us a black patch surmounted by a smaller pink one. In this case we are aware of what Whitehead calls a proposition (or perceptual object) whose component elements are the sensory qualities black and pink, characterizing a specific spatial region. But our perception of such a coloured shape may set up in us a definite train of behaviour. We may go up to it and say, ‘Fancy meeting you here, Jones’, and indulge in a lengthy conversation about the vicissitudes of the English climate. Now Whitehead thinks it is frankly unbelievable that we should act in this manner if all we experience is a coloured shape. He believes that the reason why we behave in this way is due to our experience in the mode of ‘causal efficacy’ which gives us immediate acquaintance with the physical facts, against which we check the truth or falsity of our sense-perceptions.

We can now understand what Whitehead means when he says that the primary function of a proposition (or a theory) is as a lure for feeling,1 though this may seem a pretty odd doctrine if one gives the word ‘proposition’ its generally accepted connotation. Apparently the function of a proposition is to refer to the emotional background of fact which gives it its significance.

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