Alfred North Whitehead, initially a mathematician, transitioned into philosophy to become the defining figure of process philosophy, a school of thought that radically departed from traditional Western metaphysics. His work, particularly *Process and Reality*, argues for a world composed of interrelated processes rather than static material objects. This perspective posits that all decisions and actions have consequences for the world around us, making
it highly relevant to contemporary discussions in ecological civilization and environmental ethics. Whitehead's philosophical journey began in earnest in the 1910s and early 1920s, culminating in a metaphysical system that challenged the very foundations of how reality is understood.
Whitehead's philosophy was a direct challenge to the Cartesian idea that reality is fundamentally constructed from independent pieces of matter. He contended that a "process" consists of primary events that are fundamentally interrelated and interdependent. He further argued that the most basic elements of reality can be considered experiential, as everything is constituted by experience. He used the term "experience" broadly, suggesting that even inanimate processes, like collisions between electrons, manifest some degree of experience. This stance directly opposed the notion of two distinct types of existence: material and mental. Whitehead referred to his metaphysical system as a
