Loyola University New Orleans

January � May 2004

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Lecturer: Dr Gregory J. Moses

 

PHIL-A493-001 SEMINAR: PROCESS

A Seminar on Process Relational Philosophy

42 contact hours/15 weeks, Room CM 304

Time: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 1.30 p.m. � 2.20 p.m.

 

UNIT OUTLINE FOR INPUT

 

  1. Basic Introduction to Whiteheadian Process Theory: from lectures of Charles Hartshorne and Jan Van der Veken.

 

  1. Some of the philosophical influences producing the paradigm: including �Whitehead and Plato�, (Whitehead and Leibniz), etc.

 

  1. �Big Things from Small Things?� : exploring in depth the production of the broad Process Relational Research Program on an important issue of basic ontology

 

  1. Process-Relational Thought and Human Existence

 

  1. Process-Relational Eco-Philosophy

 

  1. Process-Relational Philosophical Theology: including �God and Evil in Process Perspective

 

  1. Process-Relational Thought and Buddhism

 

  1. Process-Relational Thought and Feminism

 

  1. �In Praise of Process Pluralism�

 

Websites to access: start with

www.mpx.com.au/~gjmoses and also

www.alfred.north.whitehead.com which will take you to the website of the Center for Process Studies among others, with enormous on-line resources, and also to the International Process Network, a coalition of fifteen process-oriented organizations.   Membership of the CPS in Claremont is highly recommended if you want to do further work in this area.

The major Process journal is Process Studies out of Claremont; there are also a number of on-line journals.

 

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PHIL-A493-001 SEMINAR: PROCESS

 

ASSESSMENT PACKAGE for Process Seminar January � May 2004

 

 

Mid-Term Exam: Monday Week 8, 8th March, during class, to test knowledge of basic theory, especially items 1-3.

 

 

Seminar Presentation plus Major Essay/Research Project (same topic for both), to be handed in prior to the final examination.

 

Topics: a research project leading to an essay of at least 3000 words on a question within the confines of one or more of items 2 to 8 above; other after consultation and at the discretion of the lecturer.  Within the confines of the items above you can make up your own question which however will be subject to editing by the co-ordinator.  The topic of your research should be chosen by the Friday of Week 8 (March 12th), but may be chosen earlier.

Each person will be asked to preside for at least one seminar in the latter part of the term on his or her chosen topic during weeks 9 to 15, times to be fixed on the Monday of Week 9.  You should designate in advance what you expect the rest of us to read in preparation. Your seminar(s) will be an element of your research-in-progress, need not be your final result written up in the form of your essay.

 

The paper representing the result of your research project should be handed in prior to the final examination.

 

 

Final Examination: covering both the basic theory and all topics explored during the term:  Friday May 7th 2 p.m. � 4 p.m.

 

 

Other possible topics for research could be:

Process Thought and Educational Theory

Process Thought and the Mind-Body Problem

Process Thought and Physics

Process Thought and Economics

Process Thought and Analytic Philosophy

Process Thought and Theology e.g. Process Thought and Trinitarian Theology.

In each case you should put together a short bibliography to go with your topic and question, including at least one article or chapter of a book which is or could easily be made readily accessible to the rest of us so that we can read it in advance.

 

 

OFFICE HOURS:

 

Room No.: BO 414

 

Monday: 5 p.m. � 6 p.m.

 

Wednesday: 9.30 a.m. � 12.30 p.m.  and 5 p.m. � 6 p.m.

 

Friday:  3.45 p.m. � 5.00 p.m.

 

Phone: 865-3940

 

Email: [email protected] ; Loyola email address: [email protected]

 

Cellular/Mobile Phone No.: to be advised. 

Australian cellular/mobile phone (works here) 61 (0)417 707 875

 


 

 

Loyola University

New Orleans

 

 

 

 

 

 

PHIL-A493-001

SEMINAR: PROCESS

 

BOOK

OF

READINGS

 

 

 

 

 

JANUARY � MAY 2004

 

Compiled by: Dr Gregory J. Moses

 


 

Process Seminar Book of Readings

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Bibliography:

 

Process Philosophy and Process Theology: An Annotated Bibliography of Introductory Texts, 2nd Edition Revised, compiled by Rob Cogswell, Austin,Texas, 1996.

 

For more, see Center for Process Studies website.

 

Introductory, Basic Theory, Some Historical Influences and Some Contemporary Developments (i.e. topics 1-3)

 

John B. Cobb, Jnr., and David Ray Griffin, �Basic Concepts of Process Philosophy�, from Process Theology: an Introductory Exposition, Christian Journals Ltd., Belfast, 1975, pp. 13-29, plus �Appendix B: A Guide to the Literature�, pp. 163-190.

 

Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, God Christ Church: A Practical Guide to Process Theology, New Revised Edition, Crossroad, N.Y., 1989, Ch. I �A Relational Theology�,  pp. 1-13.

 

Thomas E. Hosinski, Stubborn Fact and Creative Advance: An Introduction to the Metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Lanham, Maryland, 1993, pp. 1-29.

 

Alfred North Whitehead, Modes of Thought, C.U.P. 1938, pp. 173-241.    [One might also read Parts I and V of Process and Reality, which however is by far his most difficult work.]

 

Joseph Bracken, �The World: Body of God or Field of Cosmic Activity?�, in Charles Hartshorne�s Concept of God: Philosophical and Theological Responses (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1990), pp. 89-102.

 

 

Human Existence, and Subjective and Objective Immortality (topic 4)

 

Rosemary T.  Curran, �Whitehead�s notion of the person and the saving of the past�,  Scottish Journal of Theology, Vol. �  No�  pp. 363-385.

 

Bernard M. Loomer, �On Committing Yourself to a Relationship�, Process Studies, Vol. 16, No. 4, Winter 1987, pp. 255-263.

 

Cobb and Griffin, Process Theology: an Introductory Exposition, Ch. V: Human Existence, pp. 81-95.

 

David Ray Griffin, God and Religion in the Postmodern World, S.U.N.Y. Press, Ch. 6 Postmodern Animism and Life After Death, pp. 83-108.

 

 

Process Eco-Philosophy (topic 5)

 

John Cobb, �Theology and Ecology�, Colloquium, Vol. 25, No. 1, May 1993, pp. 2-9.

 

Charles Birch, �Chance, Purpose and the Order of Nature� , from Liberating Life, pp. 182-188.

 

Charles Birch and Lukas Vischer, Living with the Animals, WCC Publications, Geneva, 1997, pp. 48-62.

 

Daniel A. Dombrowski, Hartshorne and the Metaphysics of Animal Rights, S.U.N.Y, 1988, pp. 69-151.

 

 

Process Relational Philosophy and Christian Theology (topic 6)

 

C. Robert Mesle, Process Theology: A Basic Introduction, Chalice Press, St. Louis, Missouri, 1993,  pp. 1- 9, Introduction, and pp. 58- 64, �How God Acts In the World�.

 

David Ray Griffin, Process theology, from A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, edited Philip L Quinn and Charles Taliferro, Blackwell, 1997, pp. 136-142.

 

Charles Hartshorne, on the Ontological Argument, from The Ontological Argument,  edited A. Plantinga, Doubleday, 1965, pp. 123- 135.  See also Creative Synthesis and Philosophic Method, �Six Theistic Proofs�.

 

Bernard M. Loomer, �Process Theology: Origins, Strengths, Weaknesses�, Process Studies, Vol. 16, No. 4, Winter 1987, pp. 245-254.

 

Henry James Young, �Process Theology and Black Liberation: Testing the Whiteheadian Metaphysical Foundations�, Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. XII, No. 9, pp. 26-30.

 

Process-Relational Thought and Buddhism (topic 7)

 

John B. Cobb, �God and Buddhism�, from Cobb and (David) Tracy, Talking about God, The Seabury Press, N.Y., pp. 57-74.  Next chapter is on God and Feminism, also by Cobb.

 

John B. Cobb, Jr., �Buddhist Emptiness and the Christian God�, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 45, No. 1, 1977, pp. 11ff.

 

 

Feminism and Process Thought (topic 8)

 

From Feminism and Process Thought, edited by Shiela Greeve Davaney, Introduction�  by same, pp. 1-10, plus article by Valerie C. Saiving, �Androgynous Life: A Feminist Appropriation of Process Thought�, pp. 11- 29.

 

Jay McDaniel, �Six Characteristics of a Postpatriarchal Christianity�, Readings in Ecology and Feminist Theology, edited Mary Heather MacKinnon and Moni McIntyre, Sheed and Ward, Kansas City, 1995, pp. 299-326.

 

 

Process Pluralism, beyond Absolutism and Relativism  (topic 9)

 

John B. Cobb, Jr., �Order Out of Chaos: A Philosophical Model of Interreligious Dialogue�, from Transforming Christianity and the World, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, N.Y., 1999, pp. 113-127.

 

Henry J. Young, Hope in Process: A Theology of Social Pluralism, Fortress Press, 1990, pp. 47- 74,  A Model for Cultural Pluralism:  The Adequacy of Organic Pluralism in Process Metaphysics�.

 

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