Yin-Yang and Whitehead’s Process Philosophy
摘要
This paper explores the connections between Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy and traditional Chinese philosophy, focusing on the Yin-Yang concept from the Book of Changes. By analyzing Whitehead’s earlier works on the philosophy of nature and his later writings on metaphysics and cosmology, we identify eight conceptual pairs that align with the Yin-Yang binary: becomingness and permanence in the duality of nature; events and objects in human experience; spatial and temporal relations of extension; many and one in the ultimate category; actual entities and eternal objects in the categories of existence; mentality and physicality of actual entities; the primordial and consequent nature of God; God and the world in the final interpretation. These findings highlight significant parallels between Whitehead’s process philosophy and Chinese philosophy, providing a comparative perspective that deepens our understanding of both traditions.