Process and Reality

...unknowable, and the unknowable is unknown¹; and so this universality, defined by how things relate or "communicate," is sufficient for our needs. This doctrine of "necessity in universality" means that the universe has an essential nature. This nature is so complete that it forbids any relationships to exist outside of itself, as that would contradict its own internal logic. Speculative philosophy seeks to discover that essence.

SECTION II

Philosophers can never hope to perfectly or finally formulate these metaphysical first principles metaphysical first principlesThe most fundamental laws or "rules" that govern existence and reality itself.. Our limited insight and the failures of language stand in our way. We are forced to stretch words and phrases toward a level of generality that is completely different from how they are normally used. No matter how much we try to stabilize these words as precise technical terms, they remain metaphors that silently call for the reader to make an imaginative leap.

There is no "first principle" that is impossible to know or that cannot be captured in a sudden flash of insight. However, even if we set aside the difficulties of language, our lack of imaginative depth prevents us from progressing in any way other than an asymptotic approach asymptotic approachoriginal: "asymptotic approach." In mathematics, an asymptote is a line that a curve gets closer and closer to but never actually touches. Whitehead means we can get closer to the truth, but never reach it perfectly. toward a system of principles. These principles can only be defined by the ideal standard they are meant to satisfy.

The root of this difficulty lies in the empirical empiricalBased on observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic. side of philosophy. Our datum datumLatin: "something given." In philosophy, this refers to the raw information or starting facts provided by experience. is the actual world, which includes ourselves. This actual world presents itself for our observation as the subject of our immediate experience immediate experienceThe "here and now" of what we are currently perceiving and feeling.. The only reason for any thought to exist is to explain and clarify this immediate experience;X and the starting point for all thought is the careful observation and analysis of the parts of that experience.

However, we are not consciously aware of a clear or complete analysis of our own experience—we don't see all the tiny details that make it what it is. We usually observe things using the method of difference. Sometimes we see an elephant, and sometimes we do not. As a result, we only notice the elephant when it is actually there.

¹ This doctrine is a paradox. Engaging in a kind of false modesty original: "species of false modesty", "cautious" philosophers attempt to define it.