Theories that posit the logic of binary oppositions, on the other hand, fail to accommodate the Whiteheadian «principle of relativity» according to which a subject constitutes itself Out of its prehensions of its past world, and then in turn functions objectively as a datum in the past world
of all subsequent occasions (Whitehead, Process 214; 43).
In perishing, occasions are not consigned to total nothingness but are granted a kind of «immortality» as elements in the experiences
of subsequent occasions and groupings of occasions.
The initial aim
of subsequent occasions in the living person will be affected in part by the way in which earlier occasions have modified their aims, but it includes also an element of autonomy.
In perishing, the occasions of experience are not relegated to absolute nothingness but instead are assigned an «objective immortality» in the experience
of subsequent occasions.
If the value itself is diminished, that diminution is due to the limited aims
of subsequent occasions, which we saw above does not apply to God.
Particular past experiences, especially if they were emotionally intense, continue for a long time to affect the emotional tone
of subsequent occasions.
The latter add significance to the former; they provide that subjective intensity with which actual entities enter into the constitution
of subsequent occasions.
The aesthetic character of reality means that every worldly value - experience contributes to the divine totality partly through the beauty that it actualizes and partly through its contribution to the beauty
of subsequent occasions.
When an event becomes an objective datum in the emerging constitution
of some subsequent occasion, its symbolic form is interpreted anew, in relation to other symbolic objects, but always in conformity with the conditions established by its own actualization.
And the present moment, after perishing, will become the objective datum to be perceived in the «memory»
of a subsequent occasion.
Not exact matches
Any
subsequent occasion would therefore assimilate it in a great variety
of intermediate forms, and would have to recombine them to establish its own particular feeling for that contrast.
For, without these structured environments for the emergence
of subsequent generations
of actual
occasions, there would be no effective guarantee that the present and the future would be continuous with the past.
In a succession
of occasions, the initial state is revived less and less in each
subsequent microgeny, eventually to recede into long - term memory beneath conscious accessibility.
How, then, do
subsequent occasions prehend this objectification
of their predecessor, if not likewise through the field or, more specifically, through that minute portion
of the field which constitutes their own regional standpoint (PR 80 / 123f)?
Yet, as students
of later reform movements can testify, the original contrast remained as a potential alternative, providing what Whitehead termed a «lure for feeling» in
subsequent occasions.
Rather than change every instance
of actual entity in part III to actual
occasion, Whitehead simply stipulates: «In the
subsequent discussion, «actual entity» will be taken to mean a conditioned actual entity
of the temporal world, unless God is expressly included in the discussion» (PR 88 / 135).
Like the Leibnizian monad, the
occasion is individuated by its individual essence, its particular perspective; but unlike the Leibnizian monad this essence is not predicated
of the
occasion as a substantial substratum, but enters into the inner constitution
of the
occasion as «a vector transmission
of emotional feeling» or, in the language
of physics, «the transmission
of a form
of energy» from past
occasions via the eternal objects that communicate the emotional form and make possible the
subsequent reenactment by the prehending
occasion (PR 315 / 479f.).
It is simply to refuse to take Whitehead at his word, and what Whitehead says, in effect, is that each superject is repeated in every
occasion whose origination is
subsequent to the existence
of that superject (PR 208, 211, 364).
The superject is «thrown beyond» the concrescent unification
of feelings; it is its concrete unified outcome, capable
of causally influencing
subsequent occasions.
It is thus the nature
of every
occasion of experience to be first a subject constituting itself through the prehension
of past events and relevant possibilities and then an object which enters into the constitution
of subsequent events.
The
subsequent reading
of the letters in the primitive Christian communities were
occasions for full exposition and expansion
of the sketch
of the material in the letters (46 - 47).
Each
occasion of our experience is immortal because it becomes datum for
subsequent occasions both in our own route
of occasions (our own selves) and in that
of other
occasions.
He also faces the disappointment
of the disparity between the initial ideal he proposed for any
occasion and its
subsequent faulty actualization.
Each actual
occasion is physical, accordingly, in the twofold sense that it begins with a physical pole, which means as an effect
of prior events, and concludes by becoming a causal ingredient in the physical poles
of subsequent events.
Thus, an actual
occasion has a sort
of power during this period that it does not have during its genesis or during its
subsequent objective immortality.
God's causal efficacy for the world is like the efficacy
of completed
occasions for
subsequent occasions and not like that
of phases
of the becoming
of a single
occasion for its successors.
In the case
of Isaiah there is the strongest evidence both that the prophet himself wrote, and that on
occasion he committed his message for
subsequent delivery in oral form to a circle
of disciples.
In
subsequent phases
of the becoming
of the
occasion, complex syntheses
of conceptual and physical prehensions occur, but these are not our concern at this point.
Whereas in relation to other actual
occasions their causal efficacy for the new
occasion functions only in the initial phase, this interpretation
of the rise
of novelty requires that God's causal efficacy function also in
subsequent phases since conceptual reversion» occurs after the initial phase
of the
occasion (PR 378.)
Creativity does not explain why they occur or what form they take, but if they occur at all and regardless
of what form they take, each will be an instance
of creativity, a fresh unity formed as a new togetherness
of the antecedent many and offering itself as a member
of the multiplicity
of which any
subsequent occasion must take account.
In that case the outcome
of an
occasion would be prior to its origin, even though the origin is temporally earlier, since like all other phases the initial phase depends upon the completed
occasion But if this is not so, what is the additional meaning assigned to prior and
subsequent which is not discoverable in the concept
of an order
of dependence?
Apparently not, for Cobb emphasizes only the difference between the use
of dependence and the terms prior and
subsequent here and in the description
of successive
occasions.
It does not coerce the immediately
subsequent occasion to conform to its own structure or quality
of feeling in any absolutely rigid fashion.
When one entity causally influences another at the fundamental level
of cosmic occurrence, it does so by perishing and handing itself over as an objective datum to be appropriated in an indeterminate way by
subsequent occasions.
Through the bodily action precipitated by the purposes
of the momentary dominant
occasions within the organism, the actual situation is changed as well as the perceived situation for
subsequent dominant
occasions.
The first part
of a possible Whiteheadian explanation for these phenomena consists in the fact that actual
occasions making up, say, the eyes, are basically selective in «receiving» their data from the external world due both to (i) the presence
of negative as well as positive prehension in the first phase
of concrescence (those that exclude and include data in the concrescence, respectively), and (ii) the activity
of «transmutation» in a
subsequent phase.»
And through the regnant society's channeling influence, «Owing to the delicate organization
of the body, there is a returned influence, an inheritance
of character derived from the presiding
occasion [whichever
occasion of the regnant society has just concresced] and modifying the
subsequent occasions through the rest
of the body» (PR 166).
The structure
of actual
occasions as perceptive, as actively inheriting and synthesizing the past, and leaving themselves open to synthesis by
subsequent occasions, gives us a basis for affirming the continued influence
of occasions on
subsequent occasions in the cosmic process.
As remembered in the
subsequent life
of Israelism - Judaism, it is so overwhelmingly and powerfully the Covenant event that it tends to draw to itself, like a giant magnet,
subsequent occasions and actions by which Covenant is further defined, redefined, expanded, and modified.
Whereas in relation to other actual
occasions their causal efficacy for the new
occasion functions only in the initial phase, this interpretation
of the rise
of novelty requires that God's causal efficacy function also in
subsequent phases since «conceptual reversion» occurs after the initial phase
of the
occasion.51 Second, if the prehension
of the novel eternal object is, in fact, a hybrid prehension
of God, then the new
occasion should deal with it as it does with other hybrid prehensions.
But mentality can discriminate either by ruling out, contradiction, or including, contrast, As mentality broadens, what were initially contradictions become contrasts.8 Mentality grows by the transmutation
of contradiction into contrast, The increase in mental functioning begets in turn greater depth
of contrast, which in its own turn further promotes mental functioning.9 This explains to some extent why it is not necessary to increase LSD dosage on
subsequent occasions to promote greater effects.
Recall that the Party had on several
occasions distanced itself from the now notorious twitter handle, «@APCNigeria» following unauthorized tweets and
subsequent false reports credited to the Party on the outcome
of the Benue South Senatorial rerun election (February 21, 2016) and an «Assessment Poll» on President Muhammadu Buhari Administration (May 31, 2017), among others.
McGovern's failure to properly vet Eagleton and his
subsequent handling
of the controversy gave
occasion for the Republican campaign to raise serious questions about his judgment.
On many
subsequent occasions, the fungi ditched their photosymbiont partners, the researchers report in the 20 June issue
of Nature.
As they put it, «Major shifts in life direction at
subsequent ages are often
occasioned by a... sense
of betrayal or compromise
of the Dream.
The Sectional Committee may likewise recommend reports on particular topics and departments
of science, to be drawn up as
occasion permits, by competent persons, and presented at
subsequent meetings.
Subsequent protests on the mountain prevented the start
of construction on two separate
occasions.
Although some studies showed a decreased energy intake at a
subsequent eating
occasion after eating compared with skipping breakfast, none
of the studies showed a decrease in the sum
of calories consumed across the study period when breakfast was eaten rather than skipped (Table 4).
Giving the Tea Rooms the highest
of accolades — «the award» for their personal favourite date spot — they've been back on
subsequent occasions since their first visit.
First, a brief remembrance before we get into the year's best movies: The film world said its heartbroken goodbyes to Mike Nichols in November, an
occasion for returning to the director's seismic The Graduate, along with four decades
of subsequent work, much
of it brilliant.