1897, June 5: birth of Charles Hartshorne in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, to Francis Hartshorne, an Episcopal minister, and Marguerite Hartshorne. He had five siblings: an older sister and four younger brothers, two of whom were identical twins. 1909: The family moved to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 28 miles from Philadelphia. 1911-15: attended, from his fourteenth to eighteenth years,… Continue reading Charles Hartshorne Timeline
Author: hyattcarter
HyC Adventures
High Seas ——HyC— ————— —————————————F— ——————————D———— ———————B——————— ————G—————————— —E————————————— High Sees I was playing with words when I first used the expression “This has been a HyC Adventure” as a postscript to a little piece I emailed to a friend. HyC brings to mind High Seas and, more to the point, High Sees, an allusion to adventures in the science and… Continue reading HyC Adventures
Mozartian Moments
Speaking of accomplishments that transform the universe— The musical genius of Mozart is legendary . . . astonishing . . . breathtaking. When creating his music, Mozart never wrote rough drafts that he later polished to perfection. All who observed him at work agree that he could sit down and dash off a musical composition,… Continue reading Mozartian Moments
Prometheo: The First Mystic
Long ago, almost four billion years in the past, an event occurred that has been called “one of the greatest works of creativity” in the entire history of the living earth. There were no humans around then since our ancestors, homo sapiens, made their first appearance only two-hundred thousand years ago. But there were a… Continue reading Prometheo: The First Mystic
What’ll It Be: Wine or Tea
D. T. Suzuki, a key figure in bringing Zen to the West, made an intriguing comment: that one contrast between Zen Buddhism and Christianity can be clearly seen in what the two religions use as sacramental substances—tea vs. wine. Tea sharpens the mind and stills the emotions while wine, in both cases, does just the… Continue reading What’ll It Be: Wine or Tea
God and the World
To discuss how God and the world interact, in Whitehead’s view, it may be helpful to first say a few words about creativity. Creativity is so fundamental an idea in process thought that David Griffin argues that there are two ultimates: God and creativity. Process denies the idea that only God is creative, or that… Continue reading God and the World
Give Us This Day Our Daily Rhythms
Some of you may be surprised to learn that we are all natural-born hypnotists and that we mesmerize ourselves, for the most part unconsciously, several times each day. It all has to do with a natural rhythm—a rhythm of activity followed by rest—that recurs throughout the day. This rhythm undulates on all levels, from cellular… Continue reading Give Us This Day Our Daily Rhythms
A Brief Introduction to Process Philosophy
The general, or popular, notion of “process” goes back at least as far as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who declared that all things flow, and who came up with an analogy so memorable that it has become part of our common vocabulary: you can’t step into the same river twice. Process philosophy, however, as conceived… Continue reading A Brief Introduction to Process Philosophy
A Kalogenic Universe
In his book Being and Value, philosopher Frederick Ferré acquaints us with a beautiful idea that he names with a beautiful word: kalogenesis. “Kalós” is the Greek word for “beauty” and “genesis” of course refers to “generating” or “bringing into existence.” And so kalogenesis means the creation or coming to be of beauty. The adjectival… Continue reading A Kalogenic Universe
It’s Not Crazy Enough!
When Quantum Theory was in development early in the twentieth century, new ideas were frequently proposed within the international physics community. One of the most deadly criticisms of a new idea, and one that became famous among physicists, was a remark by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr. When another physicist engaged him in conversation and… Continue reading It’s Not Crazy Enough!