ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the how and the why of the two major movements in the structure of Whitehead's method of inquiry in Process and Reality, showing the relation of genetic and coordinate division in the phases of inquiry. It also explains why Whitehead uses the term "merely real" to describe eternal objects and actual entities while considering their independence of one another. The chapter uses genetic and coordinate analysis to create a model of an existing physical structure. It shows that Whitehead's concept of the actual entity is a kind of mereotopological unit, adjusted to the descriptive purposes of metaphysics, that rises to the standard he sets for adequacy, applicability and universality of exemplification, logical rigor, and maximal consistency. The chapter argues above that Whitehead's concept of "extension" is an irreducible aspect of his metaphysical system, and this concept is the very source of organicity in the philosophy of organism.
