ABSTRACT

This chapter highlights the problems with general relativity to draw attention to the difference between Whitehead's approach to nature and science, and "model-centrism". By the term "model-centrism", it means something similar to the critique of the language of "models" for the sake of "explanation" in science. The chapter considers the metaphysical principle of relativity and Whitehead's use of the term "atomic" in the sense of "uncut". It explains the exemplification of the principle and then turns to the principle exemplified. The chapter uses the term "logical" in the broader and more traditional sense one finds in such thinkers as Aristotle, Dewey, and Hintikka, as the general theory of inquiry and not merely as a formal subdivision of mathematics. It emphasizes that "experience" always and everywhere is radical while "logic" is about inquiry and not the merely formal manipulation of symbols.