ホワイトヘッド教育論における「想像力」について

その宇宙論的解明

抄録

A. N. Whitehead contends in his “Universities and their Function” that the special function of the university is to impart knowledge imaginatively. In this essay, therefore, I tried to explain his “function of teaching knowledge imaginatively” in the context of his metaphysical cosmology.
First of all, by a chronological consideration it is established that his theory of education antedates the formation of his metaphysical cosmology, and that the principle of concrescence is at its bottom. Secondly, the author proceeds to show that, according to the analysis of experience, knowledge explains experience which belongs to an inferior stage, and that this serves as datum for a new experience. Thus, finally, the author goes to show that the “imaginative power” is an activity which aims at enlarging the contents of experience. This is because in his metaphysical cosmology it is one of the propositional feelings, which has experience (knowledge) as its object.