Michael Heather: The Flux and permanence of Process

The Flux and permanence of Process

Michael Heather & Nick Rossiter
CEIS, Northumbria University, NE1 8ST, UK
michael.heather@cantab.net ,
WWW home page: http://computing.unn.ac.uk/staff/CGNR1/

ABSTRACT

PROCESS is a popular term returning about half a billion hits from web browsers. These are very diverse in totally unrelated applications which suggest a natural widespread human concept. Wikipedia lists many academic fields where there is a special named process. Although these include engineering and the exact sciences there is very little common theory, formal definition or mathematics anywhere to describe process.

Often process is equated with ‘flux’ and Heraclitus is claimed as the father of process from his saying: “Everything is fluid and does not remain” in contrast to “Either it is or it is not” of Parmenides. However it seems that process is to be distinguished from flux and is at a higher level. Indeed process subsumes both flux and permanence.

Yet this is much more than a hierarchical structure. Process is a limit of the other two in the sense of a ‘pullback’ of category theory. This cannot be modelled from below nor defined in metaphysical terms from above because there is nothing above it. This is what Whitehead calls speculative philosophy:

The doctrine of necessity in universality means that there is an essence to the universe which forbids relationships beyond itself, as a violation of its rationality. Speculative philosophy seeks that essence

[Whitehead PR, Part I, Chapter I Speculative Philosophy, Section I p.4, The Speculative Scheme].