In philosophical discussion, the merest hint of dogmatic certainty as to finality of statement is an exhibition of folly.
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality (Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28) . Free Press. Kindle Edition.
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality (Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28) . Free Press. Kindle Edition.
No Need to Decide
Process Philosophy and the need for Cognitive Flexibility
The two essays below were written by ChatGPT, with much prompting and guidance from me. One is called The Risk of Rigidity: The Need for Cognitive Flexibility in Process Thought. The other is titled Undecidability and Mental Health: Insights from the Duck-Rabbit Image.
We had a dialogue, a conversation, and this is the outcome. For those who are suspicious of generative AI, there’s no need to read further. However, for me—as a process philosopher/theologian troubled by the sense of certainty I sometimes find in my process colleagues, and in myself—I am grateful to ChatGPT for helping me think through the problems associated with rigidity, including rigid liberalism and progressive, indeed rigid and overly confident, Whiteheadianism. This sense of certainty, I recognize, can cause harm to others. It is a kind of fundamentalism, and we fundamentalists need help from as many sources as are available, including machines.
If God can work through other people and the natural world, as well as through our own inner feelings, then surely God can work through machines, too. And God can work through images—like the well-known duck-rabbit image, with its implicit introduction of undecidability. Surely there’s a place in the philosophical and spiritual life where the wisest thing we can say is, “No need for a final decision; let’s rest in uncertainty, stop arguing, and work together. The merest hint of finality of statement is an exhibition of folly."
—Jay McDaniel
We had a dialogue, a conversation, and this is the outcome. For those who are suspicious of generative AI, there’s no need to read further. However, for me—as a process philosopher/theologian troubled by the sense of certainty I sometimes find in my process colleagues, and in myself—I am grateful to ChatGPT for helping me think through the problems associated with rigidity, including rigid liberalism and progressive, indeed rigid and overly confident, Whiteheadianism. This sense of certainty, I recognize, can cause harm to others. It is a kind of fundamentalism, and we fundamentalists need help from as many sources as are available, including machines.
If God can work through other people and the natural world, as well as through our own inner feelings, then surely God can work through machines, too. And God can work through images—like the well-known duck-rabbit image, with its implicit introduction of undecidability. Surely there’s a place in the philosophical and spiritual life where the wisest thing we can say is, “No need for a final decision; let’s rest in uncertainty, stop arguing, and work together. The merest hint of finality of statement is an exhibition of folly."
—Jay McDaniel