Schematizing Whitehead‘s Processes

Diagrams are used in many areas of study to depict knowledge and to assist in understanding of problems. This paper aims to utilize schematic representation to facilitate understanding of certain philosophical works; specifically, it is an attempt, albeit tentative, to schematize A. N. Whitehead’s ontological approach. It targets professionals and students in fields outside of philosophy such as computer science and engineering, who often look to sources in philosophy for design ideas or for a critical framework for practice. Yet students in such fields struggle to navigate thinkers’ writings. The paper employs schematization as an apparatus of specification for clarifying philosophical language by describing philosophical ideas in a form familiar to computer science. The resultant highlevel representation seems to be a viable tool for enhancing the relationship between philosophy and computer science, especially in computer science education. Keywords—A. N. Whitehead; schematization; metaphysical ontology; diagrammatic representation; flow