process

A sequence of events. In the process philosophy of Whitehead, the fundamental fact of cosmology is the unfolding of processes, not conceived in terms of modifications of underlying substances, but united by networks of relations, and selected in advance by God. A process theory of mind sees its unity not in terms of underlying substance (see personal identity) but as the relatively permanent form or pattern displayed by continuously changing processes, just as a wave maintains its form although it is constituted by different volumes of water at different times. Process theology, again stemming from Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, develops a concept of God as involved in unfolding processes in a way that brings him into contact with the ordinary human mess without actually being responsible for it.