Welcome to the home page for WRP’s Critical Edition of Whitehead project. Here you will find a summary of what we are currently working on.

• For an overview of the Edition’s history and goals, as well as information on its editorial staff and advisory board, see the About page.
• To view quarterly update reports on Critical Edition progress, please click here.
• To view the supplementary materials for the second volume of Harvard lectures (HL2), please see the HL2 Supplement page.
• Reviews of Critical Edition volumes can be found on their respective pages (see links below).

Summary of current work

With the second volume of Harvard Lectures recently completed, Edition staff are currently focused on editing the materials slated for the first volume of Collected Essays and Articles. In the meantime, editorial assistants have forged ahead with initial transcription of the materials slated for the sixth volume of Harvard Lectures.

Itemized list of progress on all volumes

The Harvard Lectures of Alfred North Whitehead

• Volume 1, 1924–1925: Published in February 2017.
• Volume 2, 1925–1927: Published in January 2021.
• Volume 3, 1927–1929: Transcription verification in progress; manuscript submission to EUP expected in 2026.
• Volume 4, 1930–1933: Initial transcription completed.
• Volume 5, 1933–1935: Initial transcription completed.
• Volume 6, 1935–1937: Initial transcription in progress.

The Essays and Articles of Alfred North Whitehead

• Volume 1, 1886–1918: Editing in progress; contracted with EUP, manuscript submission expected in late August 2024.
• Volume 2, 1919–1943: Editing in progress; contracted with EUP, manuscript submission expected in late November 2023.

The Correspondence of Alfred North Whitehead

• The Whitehead-Russell Correspondence: Editing in progress.
• The Correspondence of Whitehead: Materials scanned and awaiting initial transcription.

The Monographs of Alfred North Whitehead

• Volume 1, 1898: Transcription in progress.
  • A Treatise on Universal Algebra (1898)
• Volume 2, 1906–1911: Transcription in progress.
  • The Axioms of Projective Geometry (1906)
  • The Axioms of Descriptive Geometry (1907)
  • An Introduction to Mathematics (1911)
• Volume 3, 1919–1922: Transcription in progress.
  • An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Natural Knowledge (1919)
  • The Concept of Nature (1920)
  • The Principle of Relativity (1922)
• Volume 4, 1925–1927: Transcription in progress; manuscript submission to EUP expected in 2026.
  • Science and the Modern World (1925)
  • Religion in the Making (1926)
  • Symbolism (1927)
• Volume 5, 1929: Transcription in progress.
  • Process and Reality (1929)
• Volume 6, 1929–1938: Transcription in progress.
  • The Function of Reason (1929)
  • Adventures of Ideas (1933)
  • Modes of Thought (1938)

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Association for Documentary Editing

The Critical Edition of Whitehead adheres to the standards set forth by the Association for Documentary Editing (ADE), and is listed as an affiliate project on their website. The Critical Edition volumes are edited as clear text according to the Guide to Documentary Editing, accompanied by a minimally-intrusive interpretive and critical scholarly apparatus designed deliberately to avoid cluttering the core text with distracting insertions or interjections in order to permit the reader’s full engagement with the authoritative primary text. Editorial annotations are used throughout to meticulously record and justify editorial decisions and to help clarify ambiguities in the original. The texts are studied closely by at least two separate editors.

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

The Critical Edition of Whitehead has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed on this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.