Prehension: Is Experience Fundamental?

Brendan Graham Dempsey and I connected again to continue our discussion, this time focusing on Whitehead’s concept of “prehension.” I explained that, contrary to Ken Wilber’s placement of the concept in the upper left (individual-interior) quadrant of his AQAL map, prehension does not entail just an internal or subjective experience. It’s a transformative process where objects become subjects, embodying a dynamic interaction or bridge between what are normally considered distinct realms. The concept of prehension is novel precisely because it seems to overcome the traditional divide that modern philosophy often draws between the inner world of human experience and the outer world of causal interactions.

I also explored the connection between prehension and consciousness, emphasizing that Whitehead views most experiences as non-conscious. Consciousness, for Whitehead, is a higher-grade experience that emerges from the complex contrasts achieved in certain occasions. This perspective aligns somewhat with emergentist theories, which suggest consciousness arises from the intricate interplay of non-conscious elements. It’s just that on Whitehead’s reading, the “germ” of consciousness was already there.

We discussed how experience manifests at different scales of reality. For instance, at the atomic level, I suggested that atomic experience is akin to the aesthetic joy of a musical chord. There is something self-justifying about each of the vibratory harmonies achieved at various frequencies along the periodic table. In the case of plants, I pointed to the way a sunflower tracks the Sun across the sky as an example of prehension in action. Prehension is also exemplified in the photosynthetic process whereby environing sunlight and carbon dioxide molecules are transformed into the energy required to sustain plant-life.

Overall, I emphasized the importance of a coherent metaphysical framework that uniformly applies across diverse realms, from physics to psychology. Whitehead’s philosophy, influenced significantly by the then newly emerging quantum and relativity theories as well as William James’ radically empirical account of human experience, strives to provide such a framework.

A particularly important aspect of our conversation concerned the concept of time. I suggested that time, from a Whiteheadian perspective, is a unifying element across various levels of experience and consciousness, offering a contrast to the traditional, objective view of time in physics. This approach advocates for recognizing time’s dual objective and subjective dimensions. It is the impossibility of treating concrete time in a merely objective or external way that is at least suggestive of a panexperiential ontology. Experience in the minimal sense is thus describable as the tension or vector transition between an inherited objectified past, the enjoyment of a subjective present, and an anticipated superjective future.