Whitehead pointed to the limitations of language as one of the main culprits in maintaining a materialistic way of thinking, and acknowledged that it may be difficult to ever wholly move past such ideas in everyday speech. After all, each moment of each person's life can hardly be given a different proper name, and it is easy and convenient to think of people and objects as remaining fundamentally the same things, rather than constantly keeping in mind that each thing is a different thing from what it was a moment ago. Yet the limitations of everyday living and everyday speech should not prevent people from realizing that "material substances" or "essences" are a convenient generalized description of a continuum of particular, concrete processes. No one questions that a ten-year-old person is quite different by the time he or she turns thirty years old, and in many ways is not the same person at all; Whitehead points out that it is not philosophically or ontologically sound to think that a person is the same from one second to the next. COUNT 7
QSN1 Why did Whitehead think people continued to subscribe to materialistic thinking? ANS1 it is easy and convenient to think of people and objects as remaining fundamentally the same things QSN2 What did Whitehead believe regarding factors that limit people's understanding of his concepts? ANS2 should not prevent people from realizing that "material substances" or "essences" are a convenient generalized description of a continuum QSN3 What did Whitehead believe was one of the biggest reasons materialistic thinking endured? ANS3 limitations of language QSN4 What did Whitehead state about the belief that a person is exactly the same from moment to moment? ANS4 it is not philosophically or ontologically sound QSN5 Why couldn't each moment of each person's life be given a different proper name? ANS5 limitations of language QSN6 What did Whitehead believe was a culprit in maintaining a materialistic way of thinking? ANS6 limitations of language QSN7 Whitehead's main philosophy on humans changing is what? ANS7 each thing is a different thing from what it was a moment ago