The Eight Categories of Existence plus Creativity and God
The elucidation of immediate experience is the sole justification for any thought; and the starting-point‡ for thought is the analytic observation of components of this experience.
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality (Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28) (p. 4). Free Press. Kindle Edition.
Often, after being introduced to the general ideas in Whitehead’s thought, people feel inspired to "take a deeper dive." A meaningful way to do this is by studying what Whitehead calls the "eight categories of existence" in Process and Reality and exploring how they illuminate immediate experience. These categories include actual entities, eternal objects, prehensions, subjective forms, nexuses, multiplicities, propositions, and contrasts. In addition, two key concepts central to his thought—Creativity as the ultimate reality and God as the ultimate actuality—provide further insight into lived experience. Mastering these ten ideas and applying them meaningfully marks a significant step toward a deeper understanding of Whitehead's philosophy. While many other concepts remain to be explored, these serve as an excellent starting point. I call this the Eight Plus Two approach.
A First Look at the Ideas
The Eight plus Two approach is not for everybody. Truth be told, there are different kinds of deep dives into Whitehead, relative to the interests of the divers. Mathematicians will wish to dive in some ways, artists in others, theologians in still others. The Whiteheadian ocean has many dimensions. And, in fact, there are many Whiteheadian oceans.
In my Eight plus Two approach, I am offering a suggestion for what it means to dive deeply into Process and Reality—or at least to take a first deep dive. Several years ago I developed a video series, What is Process Thought?, toward this end. It, too, can be a companion to reading Process and Reality. I created it for students in China, but it has since been used by people around the world. I recommended, and still recommend, that people watch this series and, at the same time, read John Cobb's Whitehead Wordbook, all the while reading Process and Reality. The combination, I believe, can help a person dive deeply into the text.
To take this dive, I suggest, is to understand "the eight categories of existence" and to see how they are components of, and elucidate, immediate experience. These eight categories are his names for the kinds of things that exist as realities in the universe and in human experience. They are:
Actual Entities – The basic units of reality; each a moment of becoming. Examples include a quantum event in the depths of an atom and a single moment of human experience. All involve concrescence, self-enjoyment, self-creativity, physical pole, mental pole, a subjective aim for satisfying intensity, and the activity in which "the many become one and are increased by one."
Prehensions – Feelings of other things: physical or mental. The processes by which actual entities relate to and incorporate other entities into their own existence. The connective glue of the universe,
Nexūs – Groupings or networks of actual entities that together, as societies, form relationships or patterns. Empty space, by contrast, is a non-social nexus. "Societies" of actual entities include atoms, molecules, living cells, stars, and galaxies. They are "public matters of fact." A human person, too, is a society: a linearly ordered series of concrescing subjects, or actual entities, extending from birth (and perhaps before) to death (and perhaps after.)
Subjective Forms – The emotional and qualitative tones that shape how prehensions feel and experience other realities. Include purposes and the emotions that "clothe" prehensions, such as attraction and repulsion.
Eternal Objects – Pure non-temporal potentials, such as abstract qualities such as a particular shade of yellow or a particular kind of emotion, that entities can incorporate into their becoming. Two kinds: pure potentialities of the objective species (for geometrical forms) and subjective species (emotions and purposes).
Propositions – Potential ways the world could unfold, suggesting possibilities for new combinations or developments. What the world can be like, involve a combination of actual entities and eternal objects.
Multiplicities – Collections of entities that remain distinct and disjoint, rather than being integrated into a unity. The universe prior to being integrated into actual entities, is a multiplicity.
Contrasts – The interplay of differences that enrich experience by combining distinct elements without reducing them to sameness. Contrasts can be between ideas, feelings, or both. They are what give experience its depth and range.
The key is not simply to understand these eight kinds of existence but to have a feel for them, to understand how they are connected to one another, and how they can be found in human experience. As Whitehead puts it in Process and Reality, "The elucidation of immediate experience is the sole justification for any thought."
Additionally, to dive deeply into Whitehead’s Process and Reality, it is important to understand at least two further ideas central to his philosophy:
Creativity as the ultimate reality – The formless activity of which all things, including God, are expressions, expressed in the self-creativity of each actual occasion and the universe as a creative advance into novelty.
God as the ultimate actuality – The primordial mind of the universe (primordial nature), the empathic receptacle for all that happens (consequent nature), and the non-coercive guide offering fresh possibilities (superjective nature).
My suggestion, then, is that understanding and being able to use these ten ideas—to have them as part of one's working vocabulary—constitutes a deep dive, or at least a very important first dive. Scholars of Whitehead may quickly add even more ideas:
The idea that reality consists of Events not substances
Experience in the mode of causal efficacy
Experience in the mode of presentational immediacy
The nature of "conscious" experience and the way in which experience is more than consciousness
The rejection of the idea of lifeless or "inert" matter
The problem of thinking that experience is ordered according to the subject-predicate mode of grammatical expression
Coordinate and genetic division
The extensive continuum
Measurement, Flat Loci and Straight Lines
Beauty as the depth and breadth of experience
All of these are important, and they too can be part of a deep dive. In exploring the eight categories and the two additional ideas (Creativity and God), they inevitably come to play.
However, my suggestion is that the eight categories plus the ideas of creativity and God as the ultimate actuality provide a very good entrance into the depths of Whitehead's philosophy. Not the only entrance, but a good one. Reading Process and Reality with a desire to understand the eight categories, plus the two ideas of Creativity and God, is indeed a deep dive—complementary to other dives that can go even deeper.
Why take a Deep Dive?
A Framework or a Wildfire
Whitehead's philosophy can be approached in two ways. One approach treats it as a potential "system of ideas," offering a metaphysical framework through which every object of experience—whether actual, potential, or a combination—and every act of experiencing that object can be interpreted within an overarching intellectual structure. This method provides a sense of balance, order, and—problematically, I believe—a sense of control. We might call this the Framework approach, as it encourages the use of Whitehead’s philosophy as a "frame" within which the entire world and our experience of it can be situated.
The other approach views Whitehead’s ideas not as a rigid system but as a constellation of interrelated concepts—concepts that contain tensions and complexities. In this view, the ideas function as creative catalysts, sparking new insights and possibilities without aspiring to final or exhaustive conclusions. We might call this the Wildfire approach, because it allows Whitehead’s ideas to ignite unexpected thoughts and connections, spreading organically and unpredictably in different directions. This approach embraces openness and intellectual adventure over closure and certainty.
Two Approaches to Diving
A Third-Person Perspective or a Lived Experience Perspective
In addition to these two approaches, there are further differences among Whitehead-influenced philosophers. Some approach Whitehead’s philosophy primarily as a set of ideas that remain relatively divorced from immediate human experience, treating the entities he describes as existing "out there" in the world or in the mind’s eye, but not necessarily part of everyday life. For example, they may interpret "actual entities" as very small energy-events within atoms, removed from ordinary experience.
Others take a more phenomenological approach, believing that Whitehead’s categories of existence (see below) describe elements that are integral to ordinary human life. In this view, "actual entities" are not only energy-events but also moments of lived human experience. Both approaches contain valuable insights. In fact, Whitehead himself offers two examples of actual entities: quantum events in the depths of atoms and individual moments of lived experience.
Eight Ideas Plus Two
Actual Entities
An actual entity is a moment of concrescence—a moment of experience in which the many entities of the past actual world are felt and gathered into the unity of a subjective whole. In each actual entity, "the many become one, and are increased by one." This gathering includes the self-creativity and self-enjoyment of the entity, as it unifies influences from the past and brings forth something new. Actual entities are multiple and thus different from one another. Each entity arises with its own distinct characteristics, shaped by its unique prehensions and subjective forms. Once completed, an actual entity perishes as a subjective experience but continues to exist objectively, contributing to future moments of experience. This process exemplifies the dynamic nature of reality—each actual entity participates in the ongoing creative advance of the universe by transforming the past into novelty.
Prehensions
Prehensions refer to the ways actual entities relate to and "take account of" one another. This concept captures how an entity feels or grasps another entity—not conceptually, but experientially. Prehensions are the building blocks of relationships, with each actual entity prehending others through positive (inclusive) or negative (exclusive) feelings. These prehensive relations allow all things to participate in one another’s becoming, embodying the interconnectedness of all entities.
Nexus (or Nexūs)
A nexus is a network of actual entities related through shared prehensions, forming structured webs of interconnected experiences. Some nexūs take on enduring forms called societies, where occasions of experience inherit common characteristics from one another, creating patterns of continuity.
Corpuscular societies: These consist of relatively stable entities, such as atoms or molecules, which persist across time by maintaining coherence.
Personally ordered societies: These are sequences of experiences that form personal identities, such as the stream of consciousness that constitutes a person’s life. Each occasion builds on its predecessors, creating personal continuity and coherence over time.
Nexūs and societies reveal how individual occasions of experience participate in larger patterns of becoming, connecting everything from microscopic particles to human lives in an ongoing process of transformation.
Subjective Forms
Subjective forms refer to the emotional or qualitative tone that shapes how an entity experiences the world. These forms influence how prehensions are integrated, giving each experience a unique emotional quality. For example, one person might feel rain as melancholic, while another experiences it as refreshing. Subjective forms guide how entities respond to and integrate the influences they prehend, adding emotional depth to experience.
Eternal Objects
Eternal objects are pure potentials—abstract qualities or possibilities that actual entities can take up in their becoming. They are not confined to any specific event but exist as timeless potentials. For example, the quality "redness" is an eternal object that can manifest across different instances and contexts. Eternal objects provide the abstract building blocks that influence the unique character of each experience.
Propositions
Propositions are lures for feeling—imaginative suggestions that invite actual entities to explore certain possibilities. They function as speculative invitations, guiding the creative process by proposing how things might be. A proposition is not merely a factual statement but a suggestion for novelty and change. For example, an artist may consider a proposition that offers a new way to combine colors. Propositions help entities integrate new potentials, influencing both artistic creation and practical problem-solving.
Multiplicities
Multiplicities are diverse entities that exist in disjunction from one another. They may consist of actualities (such as actual entities) or potentialities (such as eternal objects). As truly distinct, multiplicities are not yet unified into the togetherness of an actual occasion of experience. A particular moment of experience (or actual entity) gathers these disparate elements into unity, but outside such unification, the universe remains a multiplicity. In this sense, multiplicities represent the richness of possibilities that are yet to be integrated.
Contrasts
Contrasts refer to patterns of difference or opposition that are either harmonized or remain in tension within experiences. These contrasts give shape and complexity to reality by bringing together opposing elements. For example, a melody is enriched by contrasts between high and low notes, and a life story is enriched by the interplay of joy and sorrow. Contrasts are essential to the depth and texture of experience, embodying both harmony and tension within each moment.
Creativity
Creativity is the “ultimate of ultimates,” the underlying activity expressed in all actualities. It manifests as the self-creativity of each actual entity through concrescence—the integration of many influences into a unified moment of experience. This process also involves transition, where the subjective immediacy of an entity perishes but lives on as objectively immortal in the experiences of future entities. Creativity is the driving force behind the novelty in the universe, enabling the ongoing process of becoming through which the past transforms into something new.
God
God encompasses three aspects, offering a relational and evolving presence in the universe:
Primordial Nature: This is God's conceptual aspect, holding all eternal objects as pure possibilities. It represents the timeless realm of potentiality, offering the raw materials from which new experiences emerge.
Consequent Nature: This is God’s empathic reception of all that happens, integrating every experience into the divine life. God feels the world, weaving all joys and sufferings into a coherent whole, continuously expanding in response to the world's becoming. God’s consequent nature ensures that no moment of experience is ever lost, as every event contributes to the unfolding divine reality.
Superjective Nature: This is God's influence on the world, luring creatures toward new possibilities. The superjective nature represents the way God inspires and persuades actual entities toward greater beauty, truth, and harmony, without coercion. God’s power lies not in domination but in invitation—offering new possibilities and guiding the world toward creative advance.