Whitehead and Roman Catholics: What Went Wrong?

Since metaphysics has traditionally been an important feature of Roman Catholic systematic theology, it is surprising that relatively few Catholic theologians have endorsed the neo-classical metaphysical scheme of Alfred North Whitehead. Whitehead, after all, with his strong emphasis on cosmology is in many ways closer in spirit to the metaphysical vision of Thomas Aquinas than are many contemporary neo-Thomists who perhaps unconsciously draw the inspiration for their reflections from the writings of Immanuel Kant. That is, these Thomists primarily focus their attention on what it means to be human and only in the second place ask the broader metaphysical question of what it means simply to be. They modify Kant's thinking, of course, to allow for the implicit experience of God either as the object of the unrestricted desire to know or as the "infinite horizon" of all human beings for self-transcendence. But, like Kant, they base their starting--point in analysis of human subjectivity rather than in reflection on the cosmic process as a whole. Here, Bracken examines Whitehead's belief in cosmology rather than in theology.