Bifurcation of nature
Bifurcation of nature ( English bifurcation of nature ) is a term introduced by the British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead , which describes the division of nature in Western philosophy. Whitehead understands the bifurcation of nature to mean the ontological division of the world into two separate realms of being, each of which is assigned different properties and degrees of reality . As Whitehead explains, the bifurcation of nature postulates that there is a world beyond perception that is not accessible to this. It consists of objects that constitute actual nature and are therefore the cause of all perception, but conversely that are withdrawn from any access by perception. The consequence of this is that only the actual nature behind the perception can develop an effect, which is why only it really exists - but not the “world of perceptions”. Although the latter can be influenced by actual nature, it cannot in turn have any influence on nature. For Whitehead, this results in the contradiction that on the one hand nature authorizes perceptions, i.e. represents their source - on the other hand, there must be no connection between an “objective” reality and a “subjective” perception.
" What I am essentially protesting against is the bifurcation of nature into two systems of reality, which, in so far as they are real, are real in different senses. One reality would be the entities such as electrons which are the study of speculative physics. This would be the reality which is there for knowledge; although on this theory it is never known. For what is known is the other sort of reality, which is the byplay of the mind. Thus there would be two natures, one is the conjecture and the other is the dream. "
“What I fundamentally protest against is the bifurcation of nature into two reality systems which, insofar as they are real, are real in different ways. One reality would be that of entities, such as electrons, that are the subject of speculative physics. This would be the reality of knowledge; although, according to this theory, it could not be recognized. For what is known is the other kind of reality, the accompanying act of the mind. There would then be two natures: one would be the conjecture, the other the dream. "
The tendency towards such a bifurcation of nature can be found above all in modern Western philosophy from the Baroque onwards and has dominated this since John Locke ( primary and secondary qualities ) and Immanuel Kant ( subject-object division ). Whitehead rejects this dualistic separation because it classifies a large number of entities - such as sensory impressions, ideas, or entities that lie between the two realms of being - as nonexistent or sees itself unable to relate them to physical objects. Instead, he calls for a concept of nature that absorbs everything that is perceived without looking for the source of perceptions in a hypothetical, invisible area of reality.
Whitehead introduced the term bifurcation in 1920 in his book The Concept of Nature . He dedicated all of his later works to the goal of overcoming the split in nature, moving from natural philosophy to metaphysics . Whitehead's difficulty lay in not simply falling behind the establishment of the bifurcation - for example in Spinoza's monism or Leibniz 's monadology - but in ending the separation of the world through a philosophy that is also capable of solving problems which early modern philosophers had reacted with the bifurcation, such as the mind-body problem or the relationship between abstractions and concrete objects. He relied mainly on the philosophy of William James , who had previously pursued a similar goal with the reinterpretation of the “ breach ” ( German gap, gap ) between subject and object . With his process philosophy , Whitehead tried to fathom how the supposedly separate entities of the two realms of being are connected to one another and which common modes of existence can be ascribed to them. Like most of his philosophy, Whitehead's work on the bifurcation was largely denied a broader reception in the 20th century. It was not until Gilles Deleuzes and Félix Guattari's recourse to Whitehead that they gained attention; the bifurcation of nature plays a decisive role in Isabelle Stengers ' and Bruno Latour's philosophy of science .
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literature
- Nicholas Bunnin, Yu Jiyuan (Eds.): The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy . Blackwell, Malden 2004, ISBN 978-1-4051-0679-5 .
- James W. Felt: Whitehead and the Bifurcation of Nature . In: The Modern Schoolman . tape 45 , 1968, pp. 285-289 .
- Isabelle Stengers: Thinking with Whitehead: A Free and Wild Creation of Concepts . Harvard University Press, Cambridge and London 2011, ISBN 978-0-674-04803-4 .
- Alfred North Whitehead: The Concept of Nature . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1920.
