유기체 철학의 방법론으로서의 사변 철학 = Speculative Philosophy: the Methodology of the Philosophy of Organism

국문 초록 (Abstract)

우리는 화이트헤드의 유기체 철학을 하나의 형이상학적 체계라고 진술할 경우 그것이 철저하게 경험론적 전통에서 출발하고 있다는 사실을 간과해서는 안 된다. 화이트헤드 역시 모든 지식의 기원과 범위를 경험으로부터 이끌어내려는 경험론의 근본적인 신념을 공유하고 있다. 화이트헤드는 자신의 유기체 철학이 우리와 소통하는 지금의 우주 시대에 적용될 수 있는 보편성을 다루고 있는 것이며, 이 보편성은 알 수 없는 것이라고 선언한다. 따라서 화이트헤드의 유기체 철학을 단순히 하나의 형이상학적 체계로서 간주하는 관행은 보다 주의 깊게 표현되어야 한다. 사변 철학으로서의 유기체 철학의 성격을 화이트헤드는 "형이상학적 범주란 어떤 자명한 것에 대한 독단적 진술이 아니라 어디까지나 궁극적 일반성에 대한 시론(試論)적 정식화인 것이다"(PR 8/58)라고 말하고 있다. 이 논문에서 필자가 유기체 철학을 형이상학적 체계로 진술하는 것은 유기체 철학이 우리의 직접 경험으로부터 출현하는 일반 관념들의 사변적 도식이라는 것이다. 화이트헤드의 유기체 철학은 우리가 소통할 수 있는 우리의 우주 시대의 우주론이며, 동시에 가능한 모든 우주 시대의 우주론들을 담아낼 수 있는 일반 관념들을 체계적이고 포괄적인 사변적 도식의 형태를 제안하고 있는 하나의 가설적 시도일 뿐이다. 간단히 말해, 화이트헤드의 유기체 철학은 바로 형이상학적 체계를 지향하고 있는 우리 시대의 우주론인 것이다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Logical positivists` doctrine had power over the western philosophy in the first quarter of 20th century. Logical positivists claimed that all the philosophical theories be examined by the principle of verification, which was the criteria of truth in the logical positivist movement. According to the principle of verification, philosophical theories must have their grounds on conceptual analyses or sense perceptions. As a result of the test through it, all the metaphysical hypotheses as well as the traditional metaphysical schemes in the past were expelled from the field of sciences to the field of pseudo sciences. They regarded all the metaphysical theories as simply-meaningless because these were speculative. Against the hostile atmosphere of those days, A. N. Whitehead began to defend speculative philosophy, and he himself constructed the ``philosophy of organism``, which is estimated as the most suitable metaphysics for 21th century today. But nowadays speculative philosophy or metaphysics is still assaulted by most contemporary philosophers. They believe that this type of philosophical theories cannot produce genuine knowledge on human understanding. So this paper tries to overcome their unreasonable belief with the help of Whitehead`s philosophy of organism. And we shall understand that philosophical advances are made only through speculative philosophy. In Process and Reality, Whitehead defined speculative philosophy as following. "Speculative Philosophy is the endeavour to frame a coherent, logical, necessary system of general ideas in terms of which every element of our experience can be interpreted." Also in the Function of Reason, he distinguished two aspects of reason, that is, the reason of Ulysses as seeking an immediate method of action and the reason of Plato as seeking a complete understanding. And then he emphasized the role of the latter in the development of humankind, which is the function of speculative reason. For these reasons, Whitehead thought that speculative philosophy is not a complete metaphysical scheme, but a method for the metaphysical scheme. So he constructed his philosophy of organism on the method of speculative philosophy. Especially Whitehead compared the method of speculative philosophy to a flight in Process and Reality. According to Whitehead, the first step of the method starts from the ground of particular observation, the second step makes a flight in the thin air of imaginative generalization, and the last step again lands for renewed observation rendered acute by rational interpretation. This process of the flight is guided by Whitehead`s speculative principles, such as applicability, logical consistence, coherence, and adequacy. Therefore the principles of speculative philosophy mean the methodological principles of the philosophy of organism to him. Whitehead`s view that speculative philosophy is the method of constructing a metaphysical scheme is similar to the one of contemporary scientists, according to which the method of contemporary sciences is the hypothetical-deductive method. This method is well-formulated in K. Popper`s theory of falsification. In Adventures of Ideas, Whitehead named metaphysical schemes as working hypotheses just as Popper regarded the scientific theories as well-informed guess. And as Popper had an attention to their falsifiabilty, Whitehead stressed that all the metaphysical schemes are able to be revised. Whitehead thought that speculative philosophy is the method of the metaphysical scheme, which interprets all human experiences concretely. But his speculative philosophy is not a dogmatic scheme, but a revisible method. In the preface of Process and Reality, he said, "There remains the final reflection, how shallow, puny, and imperfect are efforts to sound the depths in the nature of things. In philosophical discussion, the merest hint of dogmatic certainty as to finality of statement is an exhibition of folly." So Whitehead``s philosophy of organi