Date: 2026-02-25
SIML Cross-Reference: A003-A005 (Whitehead terms)
Sources: Whitehead Encyclopedia [1], Larval Subjects [2], IEP [3], Religion Online [4]
Simple Physical Feelings and Time
The Whitehead Encyclopedia quotes Whitehead on “simple physical feelings”:
“In virtue of these feelings, time is the conformation of the immediate present to the past.” [1]
This directly supports the nemetic emphasis on occasions metabolizing their past into their present—time itself is this conformation, this coordination of present pattern with inherited pattern.
The Fundamental Situation
The Whitehead Encyclopedia stresses:
“The fundamental situation is ‘an actual occasion’s subjective experiencing of its causal past’ and that actual occasions are ‘the reasons for time’.” [1]
There is no going “behind” occasions to some deeper substrate. The only “ground” is this ongoing process of occasions prehending occasions.
This supports the line about Whitehead providing a “metaphysical ground you try not to stand on too firmly.”
Drops of Experience
Larval Subjects provides helpful secondary commentary, glossing actual occasions as “drops of experience” and emphasizing Whitehead’s own formulation:
“The many become one, and are increased by one.” [2]
This reiterates that enduring objects are “immense societies…of actual occasions,” grounding the contrast between persisting units and streams of occasions.
The Circular Structure of Prehension
The IEP gives the key line:
“The occasion prehends past occasions as ‘objective data’ and creatively combines them in its own concrescence, then ‘once it has become fully actualized, the occasion as superject becomes an objective datum for those occasions which follow it, and the process begins again.’” [3]
This circular structure justifies the claim that prehension is a pattern operation that transforms both sides: - The prehending occasion is constituted by how it coordinates with the past - The past is only what it is as it is taken up as “objective data” for later becomings
The Ontological Principle
The Whitehead Encyclopedia highlights:
“Actual occasions are the reasons for time.” [1]
I.e., there is no going behind occasions to some deeper substrate. This is the nemetic ontology: no fixed ground, only ongoing pattern coordination.
Summary of Citations
| Claim | Source | Key Passage |
|---|---|---|
| Entities as occasions/events, not persisting units | Religion Online [4] | “Event is a nexus of actual occasions” |
| Occasions metabolizing past into present | Whitehead Encyclopedia [1] | “Time is the conformation of the immediate present to the past” |
| Prehension as basic relational act | Larval Subjects [2] | “The many become one, and are increased by one” |
| Both sides transformed | IEP [3] | “Occasion as superject becomes objective datum for those which follow” |
| No deeper substrate | Whitehead Encyclopedia [1] | “Actual occasions are the reasons for time” |
The Nemetic Cycle
PAST OCCASIONS → PREHENSION → CONCRESCENCE → NEW OCCASION
↑ ↓
└────── OBJECTIVE DATA ────────┘
Each occasion: 1. Prehends past occasions as objective data 2. Creatively combines them in concrescence 3. Becomes fully actualized 4. Becomes objective datum for future occasions 5. Process begins again
This is nemetic coordination as ontology—not metaphor, not special case, but the basic structure of reality.
References
[1] Whitehead Research Project. “Time and Experience.” Whitehead Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.whiteheadresearch.org/entries/thematic/theory-of-knowledge/time-and-experience/
[2] Larval Subjects. “Objectiles and Actual Occasions.” https://larvalsubjects.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/objectiles-and-actual-occasions/
[3] Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Alfred North Whitehead.” https://iep.utm.edu/whitehead/
[4] Religion Online. “Whitehead’s Category of Nexus of Actual Entities.” https://www.religion-online.org/article/whiteheads-category-of-nexus-of-actual-entities/
Supplementary to: Whitehead and Nemetics: The Basic Structure of Reality