Essays in philosophy, theology, religion, and politics explore the wide-ranging and groundbreaking thought of David Ray Griffin, the man who brought constructive postmodernism to China and has engaged millions in his multidisciplinary explorations of Whiteheadian philosophy.

Reason & Reenchantment: The Philosophical, Religious, & Political Thought of David Ray Griffin

Politics & Social Sciences

Cobb JR., John B.

Philosophy

Process Century Press

This revolutionary book fuses the enduring legacy of socialism—government for the common good—with the best of the environmental movement and the newest insights from sustainability studies. The result is a manifesto in the tradition of Bill McKibben’s Eaarth—a roadmap forward in the face of the growing environmental catastrophe, which is the most complex crisis humanity has ever faced. Catherine Keller writes, “What an unexpected, discomforting and important work! If Marxism seemed to be abandoned in the West to a few academic leftists and nostalgic activists, the authors bring it roaring back into relevance.”American conservatives like to say that Marxism was destroyed by its opponents and by the mistakes of Marxist governments. Organic Marxism provides the definitive answer to this charge. New economic evidence reveals that Marx’s predictions are coming true in ways once thought impossible. Today the wealthiest class, the richest 1%, possesses more wealth and power than ever before, whereas the 99% are slipping economically, and the majority of humans live in increasing poverty.Above all else, the global environmental crisis changes everything. Clayton and Heinzekehr show how, over the last decades, rich individuals and multinational corporations have acted selfishly to increase their own wealth—with devastating ecological consequences. The data make it clear that the planet has reached the limits of its capacity. The authors trace the unimaginable environmental and social consequences that (scientists tell us) global warming will bring: mass extinctions, food and water shortages, violent weather, rising oceans. Why then do our governments continue to favor the wealthy? Why do they take no action … or actually worsen the situation?Organic Marxism shows why the situation is not hopeless, however. The vast majority of humans favor sustainable systems and lifestyles. With this growing support, it’s possible to begin laying the foundations for a new, ecological civilization on this planet. In these pages Clayton and Heinzekehr lay out the steps toward a fair and sustainable society, one run not in the interests of the rich but for the common good. This “fresh, energetic, and revolutionary manifesto” (Santiago Slabodsky) takes its leads from the core insights of Karl Marx, from process philosophers in China (Taoism) and in the West (Alfred North Whitehead), from ecology, and from the organic practices of sustainable communities. This “postmodern Marxism,” the authors argue, is not deterministic and utopian. It allows for market forces while limiting corruption and excessive profit-taking by the wealthy. In the end, localized systems of production and trade, steeped in the cultural traditions of a given people, are far more sustainable and life-affirming than a globalized economy run by the richest banks and multinational corporations.The book is a call to action. We can no longer sit by passively and allow unlimited consumption by the wealthy when it means that there will be nothing left for our grandchildren. Without a planetary crisis, the rich would remain in power. As we approach the planet’s limits, however, there is no other option but to shift to an organic, ecological civilization. Clayton and Heinzekehr show how scientists and economists, farmers and small business people, artists and religious leaders are coming together around the globe, building communities for the common good.

Organic Marxism: An Alternative to Capitalism and Ecological Catastrophe (Toward Ecological Civilization)

Clayton, Philip

Heinzekehr, Justin

Can scientific naturalism, according to which there are no interruptions of the normal cause-effect relations, be compatible with divine activity, religious experience, and moral realism? Leading process philosopher of religion David Ray Griffin argues that panentheism provides the conceptual framework to overcome the perennial conflicts between these views, with important implications for religious pluralism, the problem of evil, and the academic study of religion. Panentheism—God as the soul of the world—explains how theism can be fully natural while still portraying God as distinct from and more than the world. Griffin’s Panentheism and Scientific Naturalism is an essential source for philosophers of religion and others seeking to reconcile faith with science and Christianity with other religions.

Panentheism and Scientific Naturalism: Rethinking Evil, Morality, Religious Experience, Religious Pluralism, and the Academic Study of Religion (Toward Ecological Civilization)

Griffin, David Ray

In these remarkably intimate and forthcoming “reminiscences,” theologian and philosopher John B. Cobb, Jr., reflects on major theological developments of the last sixty years, from the Latin American, feminist, and black liberation theologies, to Vatican II, the “death of God,” and the shift from existentialist to process philosophies. A major conviction of Cobb’s work—amply displayed in these reflections—is that theology must engage contemporary issues. To that end, he followed a transdisciplinary approach throughout his career, integrating insights from many different areas of study and bringing different specialized disciplines into fruitful communication. As a result, Cobb has been influential in a wide range of disciplines, including theology, ecology, economics, biology and social ethics. His descriptions of these encounters are rich in personal detail and refreshingly honest.

Theological Reminiscences (Toward Ecological Civilization)

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Mary Parker Follett, a Progressive Era theorist called the “prophet of management” by Peter Drucker, is winning transdisciplinary converts as the world catches up with her. But as the authors argue, her work cannot be appreciated without understanding its grounding in relational process ontology. This book not only provides that necessary key, but it presents in one volume the major ideas and disciplines found in her work. The authors provide the structure, but fill it with Follett’s own words—a wonderfully wise decision that lets readers be converted by Mary Parker Follett herself.

Integrative Process: Follettian Thinking from Ontology to Administration (Toward Ecological Civilization)

Stout, Margaret

Love, Jeannine M.

“We live in an extraordinary moment in history—an oddly beautiful time—painted with the starkly contrasting colors of undeniable loss and rich possibility. The Universe is rife with freshness, and we are part of the adventure: part of the urgent call to return to the wisdom of the Earth and replant ourselves in Beauty.” So write the editors in their introduction to this rich collection of essays by scholars, writers, artists, activists, educators, and clergy who have been influenced by the thinking of Alfred North Whitehead. Coming from a variety of cultural and religious traditions, the essays are all about the Beauty that flourishes in the fertile soil of sustainable community, relational thinking, imagination, creativity, the arts, stories of everyday people, as well as in our creative action toward the healing of our planet.

Replanting Ourselves in Beauty: Toward an Ecological Civilization (Toward Ecological Civilization)

Farmer, Patricia Adams

McDaniel, Jay

On June 18, 2015, Pope Francis addressed the world about the fate of the planet, focusing especially on the threat of climate disaster. He called for a worldview that would emphasize the interconnectedness of things and what he called an "integral ecology."In Claremont, CA, earlier the same month, a conference called "Seizing an Alternative," keynoted by Bill McKibben, also focused attention on climate change and called for a new worldview that would reflect the interconnectedness of all things, or an "ecological civilization." The conference leaders saw that their aims and hopes now had a global leader. The goals of an integral ecology and an ecological civilization are the same. The task now for those who care about the fate of the world is to give whatever support they can to Pope Francis. As a first step, more than 60 persons involved in that conference answered the pope's call for dialogue and wrote responses to the pope's encyclical letter, Laudato si'. This book is a collection of those essays, written by people representing a diversity of faith traditions and cultures and many fields of activity and inquiry. They offer support, constructive criticism, and proposals for implementing the pope's ideas. To engage a larger public, it is important to engage the encyclical seriously, by widening and deepening the discussion. This book is offered in the hopes of facilitating that conversation.

For Our Common Home: Process-Relational Responses to Laudato Si'

A glossary of the most important terms in Whitehead's Process and Reality, by one of the greatest living authorities on Whitehead's thought. The terms are presented in rational order, making the book a succinct unfolding of Whitehead's thought.

Whitehead Word Book: A Glossary with Alphabetical Index to Technical Terms in Process and Reality (Toward Ecological Civilzation)

Michel Weber’s brilliant analysis of our decadent democracies awakens us from the slumber of indifference and conformity. The philosophies of William James and Alfred North Whitehead serve as the foundation for a thorough and pertinent critique of capitalism and consumerism. Our age seems to actualize Aldous Huxley’s dystopia and the Orwellian nightmare, but “the global systemic crisis is only starting.” The philosophical search for “broader generalities” can lead to a novel society that, instead of promoting atomism, conformism and infantilization, fosters individuation, solidarity and culture. – Maria-Teresa Teixeira, University of Coimbra, PortugalThis book comes just in time, and it comes with a pragmatically and politically relevant reflection on time through the process philosophies of A.N. Whitehead and William James. Weber insists that the energetic, biospheric, demographic and social crises we face today are products of the underlying political crisis of globalized capitalist ideology. At times extreme and even shocking, Weber uses his finely honed intellect in an effort to shake us out of our collective sleepwalk into disaster. – Paul Stenner, Professor of Social Psychology, The Open University, UKWeber offers fresh perspectives and new insights into the nature of domination and servitude, how domination operates in the present, and where it is leading us. It is not just the breadth and depth of this essay, and the integrated studies of philosophical ideas and political contexts through history that is impressive; Weber is offering a path of escape from servitude through the political role that philosophy could and should play. To do so it is necessary to escape from the metaphysics of feudalism that has dominated Western philosophy in the past and embrace the intrinsically radical potential of of philosophy qua philosophy. – Arran Gare, Associate Professor, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, AustraliaThe interplay of two streams of thought form the basis for this philosophical essay. One revisits James’ radical empiricism and generalizes it to politics; the other endeavors to think the current global systemic crisis as the last burst of international capitalism. Weber uses Marx and Whitehead to argue that Marx’s ideal and pragmatism should be preserved, together with his twin concepts of class consciousness and class struggle. His concept of class, however, needs some new foundations, and his materialism and determinism would be advantageously replaced by Whitehead’s panexperientialism and creativity.

The Political Vindication of Radical Empiricism: with Application to the Global Systemic Crisis (Toward Ecological Civilization)

Weber, Michel

Despite the many revolutions in science and philosophy since Newton and Hume, the outdated idea of an inevitable war between the abstractions of science and the deep intuitions of humankind is reconfirmed, again and again. The history of science is interpreted and presented as a succession of victories over the army of our misleading intuitions, and each success of science is marketed as a defeat of intuition. Instead of endorsing the modern dogma that a truth cannot be scientific unless it hurts the deep intuitions of mankind, and that we cannot be scientific unless we tame the authority of our intuition, the authors of this collection highlight developments in 20th and early 21st century science and philosophy that have the potential to support, or even further, Whitehead's philosophical integration of the abstractions of mathematics and physics with the deep intuitions of humankind. Instead of accepting the authority of science-inspired philosophers to reduce and disenchant nature and humankind in the name of our most successful scientific theories, the authors stress the contemporary relevance of Whitehead's philosophical research program of thinking things together - science and intuition; facts and values - to promote the fundamental coherence that is required to start building an ecological civilization.

Intuition in Mathematics and Physics: A Whiteheadian Approach (Toward Ecological Civilization) (Volume 10)

Science & Math

Desmet, Ronny

Physics

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