원서독해 The function of Reason.1 (summary)

The fumction of Reason (Alfred North Whitehead)

summary

History discloses two main tendencies in the course of events,

One tendency is exemplified in the slow decay of physical nature. With stealthy inevitableness, there is degradation of energy.

The sources of activity sink downward and downward. Their very matter wastes.

The other tendency is exemplified by the yearly renewal of nature in the spring, and by the upward course of biological evolution.

In these pages i consider Reason in its realtion to these contrasted aspects of history.

Reason is the self-discipline of the originative element in history. Aparts from the operation of Reason, this element is anarchic.