懷海德前期創生概念及其思想背景

Whitehead's Earlier Concept of Creativity and Its Philosophical Background

10.29699/FJPS.200507.0008

俞懿嫻(Yih-Hsien Yu)

創生 ； 形上學 ； 懷海德 ； 機體哲學 ； 歷程哲學 ； 當代哲學 ； Creativity ； Whitehead ； A. N. ； Process Philosophy ； Metaphysics

哲學論集

38期（2005 / 07 / 01）

203 - 242

繁體中文

「創生」是懷海德形上學的系統中三個構成「終極範疇」之中的一個理念（另外兩個是「一」與「多」），可說是懷氏「形上方案」的終極預設。在懷海德看來，「自然」最明顯可見的特徵，便是「創生」。自然是由無數在時間之流中，不斷創造更新的實有所構成。自然的歷程本身，則是這些實有同時存在、或者前繼後續的「創生進程」。自然歷程中的真實存有固然會受到動力因支配，必須繼承先前實有的一切；但也會受到目的因的影響，根據自身的「主觀目的」，追求最終的滿足，得到自我創造的機會。「創生」作為創新的原理，使實有得以免於「機械因果律」的支配，留下自由的空間。這項構想正是懷海德「機體哲學」的核心理念，使現代人可擺脫科學唯物論和機械決定論的獨斷。懷海德的「創生」概念雖然有其獨到之處，但不是他憑空想像而來。「創生」的概念在西方哲學史的發展上，可說曾歷經曲折，其來有自。本文擬就此議題進行探討，深入瞭解懷海德創生概念發展的思想背景，進而介紹其形上學時期之前的創生概念。

In Alfred North Whitehead's metaphysical scheme, the concept of creativity is one of the three notions of which the Category of the Ultimate is consisted; the rest of the two are ”one” and ”many.” Since the Category of the Ultimate is said presupposed by all the more special categories, ”creativity” may be regarded as the ultimate presupposition of the Whitehead's philosophical system. With this metaphysical implication, the word ”creativity” is used by Whitehead to characterize the most prevailing feature of the universe. In his view, nature is a process of creative advance, which is composed of the becoming of infinite actual entities that enter into novelty by simultaneously contrasting with each other or by succeeding to one after another in the flux of time. By succeeding to the previous actual entity, each actual entity is caused and determined and is thereby under the sway of efficient cause. However, the actual entity is also under the influence of final cause, for it is with the capacity of self-creation and is constantly goaded by its subjective aim seeking for self-satisfaction. Thus, ”creativity,” as the principle of novelty, may exempt actual entities from the dominion of the mechanical causal law and save some room of freedom for them. Accordingly, ”creativity” as the kernel idea of Whitehead's philosophy can be regarded as a key to curb the rampage of modern scientific materialism and mechanical determinism. The present paper is an attempt to explore Whitehead's earlier concept of creativity and the philosophical background that broods it and nourishes its growth as an indispensable work for our further understanding of Whitehead's metaphysics of creativity.

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