Alfred North Whitehead

The Concept of Nature Alfred North Whitehead

Book Excerptproposition is composed of phrases; some of these phrases may be demonstrative and others may be descriptive. By a demonstrative phrase I mean a phrase which makes the recipient aware of an entity in a way which is independent of the particular demonstrative phrase. You will understand that I am here using 'demonstration' in the non-logical sense, namely in the sense in which a lecturer demonstrates by the aid of a frog and a microscope the circulation of the blood for an elementary class of medical students. I will call such demonstration 'speculative' demonstration, remembering Hamlet's use of the word 'speculation' when he says, There is no speculation in those eyes. Thus a demonstrative phrase demonstrates an entity speculatively. It may happen that the expositor has meant some other entity--namely, the phrase demonstrates to him an entity which is diverse from the entity which it demonstrates to the recipient. In that case there is confusion; for there are two diverse propositions