Category: Selected Essays by by Charles Hartshorne

Charles Hartshorne What is metaphysics? There is real danger of taking the meaning of this term too much for granted, and of leaning too heavily upon an undefined word in the very act of dismissing metaphysics as word jugglery. Metaphysics is not, as I conceive it, the study of the wholly transcendent or supersensible. It… Continue reading Metaphysics for Positivists

Charles Hartshorne Hans Jonas is a very interesting — I am tempted to say fascinating — as well as learned philosopher. He has written perceptively about biological problems and also about the type of philosophy in which I have most confidence. I have decided, however, not to comment in much detail upon his views. This… Continue reading The Organism According to Process Philosophy

Charles Hartshorne Background. From the outset I was given intensive but liberal religious training in my home, my father’s Episcopal church, and an Episcopal boarding school (now nonexistent) which I attended for four happy years before going to college. Also, in my teens, came exposure to Emerson’s Essays, which I found wonderfully stimulating and inspir­ing,… Continue reading Twelve Elements of My Philosophy

Charles Hartshorne Professor Malcolm’s recent exposition,1 correct so far as it goes, of Anselm’s second ontological argument (there are indeed two) can be partly formalized in a chain of valid inferences as follows: 1. (∃x)Px → N(∃x)Px The existence of perfection can only be necessary. 2. ~ N(∃x)Px → N ~ N(∃x)Px The non-necessity of… Continue reading The Logic of the Ontological Argument

Charles Hartshorne The conceptual structure of the neoclassical philosophy can be partly indicated by a rather simple yet comprehensive table. The aim is less to demonstrate than to explicate, and I shall not conceal certain puzzles that trouble me. The point is to show the interconnections between concepts and thereby to exhibit the philosophy as… Continue reading A Logic of Ultimate Contrasts

Dedication to Creative Synthesis and Philosophic MethodCharles Hartshorne To Paul Weissever-delightful and helpful friend;ingenious, skilful and versatile author and editor;theoretical, practical, organizational, pedagogical,indefatigable and astute protagonist of philosophyor the search for comprehensive ideas and idealswhich can give our judgments perspectiveand our endeavors nobility. Source:Charles Hartshorne, Creative Synthesis and Philosophic Method, p. v.

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 Dedication and Preface to A Natural Theology for Our Time

Anticipations of the Ontological Proof  Charles Hartshorne In a remarkable article, Prescott Johnson (see Bibliography) seems to succeed in showing that Plato’s dialectic (in The Republic) as means to knowledge of the Good amounts to an ontological argument for the necessary existence of the Good. The lesser ideas are incapable of expressing the principle of order… Continue reading Anticipations of the Ontological Proof  

Dedication to The Logic of PerfectionCharles Hartshorne 　　To Dorothy　whose skillful and painstaking editing of my writings　has been incidental to a life in which creativity,　and joy in the creativity of others, have been　constantly apparent, and whose immense　humorous loyalty has so greatly aided the　pursuit of that reasonable wisdom　which the philosopher never quite attains. *             *             * HyC

Charles Hartshorne Persons as we know them are social, that is, they enjoy personal relations. A “personal God” suggests one who can respond to prayer. But we may distinguish two forms of response, local and cosmic. God, if a cosmic being, can “answer” one person’s prayer only as he simultaneously and without foolish bias takes… Continue reading God, as Personal