Looking for new mathematical concepts for the material world. Whitehead's investigations into formal ontology (Q2910356)

The author (Université de Liège) focuses his argument on Whitehead's seminal lecture ``On mathematical concepts of the material world'' (1906). This lecture is of the highest importance for three reasons. It constitutes the first Whiteheadian synthesis on formal ontology and it has set the agenda of Whitehead's later research in epistemology and in metaphysics; it is developed independently of Husserl's \textit{Logische Untersuchungen} (III, 1900--1901); last but not the least, it provides interesting clues on Whitehead's collaboration with his former pupil Russell on the epoch-making \textit{Principia Mathematica} (1910--1913). In the years leading to the \textit{Principia}, Whitehead is concerned with devising mathematical concepts for vectorial electromagnetic forces and thereby reforming classical substantialism, while Russell debates referential matters with Meinong (``On denoting'', 1905). Whitehead's 1906 lecture explores five concepts of the material world. Using Occam's razor leads us to formulate an ``instinctive preference for a monistic against a dualistic concept'' claims Whitehead. In sum, what matters is that Whitehead (unlike Russell) draws ontological conclusions from epistemological arguments.