Category: Prefaces to Hartshorne’s Books

Preface to The Philosophy and Psychology of SensationCharles Hartshorne This book presents a theory of the sensory qualities. The theory may be called, for brevity’s sake, the doc­trine of the “affective continuum.” It was first con­ceived as an attempt to solve certain problems of a philosophical character. But it was natural that the treatment which… Continue reading Preface to The Philosophy and Psychology of Sensation

Preface to Beyond Humanism (Bison Book Edition)Charles Hartshorne In the thirty-two years since the writing of these essays, the philosophical scene has changed in many ways. Writings by Russell, Dewey, Santayana, Carnap, and Moore are less in the center of interest; while those by Wittgenstein, Ryle, Austin, Strawson, Heidegger, Peirce, and (in this country at… Continue reading Preface to Beyond Humanism

Preface to Man’s Vision of God and the Logic of TheismCharles Hartshorne To the mountainous — I had almost said, monstrous — mass of writings devoted to “philosophical theology,” what can there be to add? I answer simply, if without apparent modesty, there is exactitude, logical rigor. Beyond question, of those who have dealt with… Continue reading Preface to Man’s Vision of God and the Logic of Theism

Preface to The Divine RelativityCharles Hartshorne In this book, which is a considerable expansion of the lectures as given, the attempt is made to apply logical analysis to the religious idea of God. One making such an attempt must expect the opposition both of many of the orthodox and of some of their skeptical opponents,… Continue reading Preface to The Divine Relativity

Preface to Philosophers Speak of GodCharles Hartshorne This work aims to present—by selections from some fifty writers ranging in time and space from Lao-tse, Plato, and Sankara to Whitehead, Berdyaev, and Radhakrishnan—the chief philosophical conceptions of deity. It also aims to aid readers in estimating the validity of these conceptions. The work is thus two… Continue reading Preface to Philosophers Speak of God

Preface to Reality as Social ProcessCharles Hartshorne Although there has been a lapse of fifteen years between the writing of the earliest and the latest of these essays, they all seem rather shockingly consistent one with another. A man ought to learn some of the errors of his ways between the years thirty-seven and fifty-two… Continue reading Preface to Reality as Social Process

Preface to The Logic of PerfectionCharles Hartshorne I feel chiefly indebted, in connection with this study, to my Harvard teachers of many years ago, to some discussions with Rudolf Carnap (who shares very few of my opinions), and to the advice on some logical points given me by Richard M. Martin and Lucio Chiaraviglio. If… Continue reading Preface to The Logic of Perfection

Preface to Anselm’s DiscoveryCharles Hartshorne In a thesis written at Harvard in 1923 I termed the Ontological Argument invented by Anselm “an incomparably brilliant and cogent course of reasoning.” I was already familiar with Kant’s famous refutation. Since that time frequent rereading of Kant and examination of scores of other refutations have failed to convince… Continue reading Preface to Anselm’s Discovery

Charles Hartshorne 　Dedication To the memory of Fausto Sozzini (Socinus), Italian theologian, and his brave Protestant followers in Poland and elsewhere, who in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were able to see and—in spite of persecution, scorn, and ridicule—to say, that the eternity or worshipful perfection of God does not imply his change­lessness (or self-sufficiency)… Continue reading Preface to A Natural Theology for Our Time

Preface to Creative Synthesis and Philosophic MethodCharles Hartshorne Philosophy aspires to impersonal truth, but a personal element stubbornly persists. I can most easily suggest what the reader may expect from this book by being somewhat autobiographical. Unlike most philosophical writings of our time, this is an essay in systematic metaphysics. In so far it resembles… Continue reading Preface to Creative Synthesis and Philosophic Method