Whitehead's Unconscious Ontology

Abstract

Alfred North Whitehead's process metaphysics remain largely unknown to psychology despite his treatise on human consciousness, perception and the nature of the soul. What is of greater significance is that his process reality is governed by unconscious forces that form the a priori foundation for all modes of human experience to manifest. In this article, I attempt to show how Whitehead's unconscious ontology has direct implications for the way in which we understand his philosophical psychology, and specifically how this bears on the mind-body problem. I further show compatibilities with psychoanalytic thought on the nature and constitution of the psyche, thus demonstrating how process is an indispensable construct in the way we conceptualize the mind.