“The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (Free Press, 1969) p. 53.
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BILL MURRAY: “What did you study?”
SCARLETT JOHANSSON: “Philosophy.”
BILL MURRAY: “Yeah, there’s a good buck in that racket.”
SCARLETT JOHANSSON: “Well, so far it’s pro bono.”
Lost in Translation (2003)
Taylor Marshall is the Adjunct Instructor in Philosophy at the University of Dallas. 
Aristotle called the philosophy of being "first philosophy" because it does not examine the parts of reality (politics, math, music, history), but reality itself: existence, change, properties, space, time, causality, and possibility. This first philosophy is also called "metaphysics," deriving from the Greek words meta ("beyond") and physica ("physical").
I designed this site for students studying philosophy at the College of Saint Thomas More. Whether or not you are taking courses, I hope that you find the articles, outlines, and essays helpful.
Metaphysically,
Dr. Taylor Marshall
Professor of Philosophy
College of Saint Thomas More
Pre 1930’s this may have been arguable. Post 1930’s, I wonder.
Surely he should have seen this from his mathematics. With the collapse of Hilbert’s dream to reason out the universe he should have realised that others have tried to pick up the philosophical pieces. They have seen that there are issues far beyond Plato’s analysis.
Personally, I think Plato got it wrong in assuming the law of non contradiction. To blindly assume it (or see it as an axiom ) leaves a shaky credibility.
A person created in God’s image, with the ability to know what God reveals, is in a critically different position. Then, and only then, is the Law of Non Contradiction given its proper place.
Hi there – Whitehead’s quote IS funny… its a shame that the work in which it is contained is a load of tripe. It has quite a lot to do with process but not a whole lot to do with reality. I believe that there are a great many fundamental truths to be found amidst the web of falsehood wearing the label “process philosophy” – I often wonder if process philosophy can’t be ‘reformed’ – the falsehood stripped from it and the truths developed and teased out into a workable system…
An unfortunate consequence of Whitehead’s work is that it has been used to scaffold various theological studies that attempt to disprove truths about God, for example His immutability. Or to dismantle any real understanding of the omnipotence of God… one of the most damaging and dangerous of such works is a book called “God, Power and Evil” by David Ray Griffin, a retired philosopher of religion and one of the key advocates of process theology.
So much as the quote you’ve posted here is amusing… every time I read Whitehead’s name in print I can’t help but to inwardly cringe…
sorry, that wasn’t the desired effect of your posting this at all, was it?
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