Whitehead’s Early Theory of Perception (1911–1917): A Look at Its Sources
Whitehead’s Early Theory of Perception (1911–1917): A Look at Its Sources

Summary/Abstract: In this paper I deal with Whitehead’s early theory of perception, as presented in Whitehead’s first philosophical book from 1917. I argue that it differs from the theory developed subsequently, in the works on natural philosophy, by being subjectivist. Although the theory bears resemblance to Russell’s contemporary theory of perception, I hold that Russell’s influence on Whitehead was shallow. Much more substantive was the influence he received from G. F. Stout. Whitehead’s early theory of perception has a Stoutian infrastructure, that is, it draws on Stout’s analysis of mind from Analytic Psychology and assumes the Stoutian concept of „presentation”, as well as a Stoutian interpretation of the „principle of hypothetical sense-presentations”.

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