I was recently in Munich attending the 13th International Whitehead Conference at the Munich School of Philosophy. The conference was well-attended and gathered over one hundred Whitehead scholars from around the world. The conference theme was “Whitehead  and the History of Philosophy” and papers addressed a variety of topics across eighteen sections: 1. German Whitehead research; 2. Whitehead and Aesthetics; 3. Whitehead and Analytical Philosophy; 4. Whitehead and Biology; 5. Whitehead and China; 6. Whitehead and classical Greek Philosophy; 7. Whitehead: Education and Psychology; 8. Whitehead and Integral Ecology; 9. Whitehead and Integral Economics; 10. Whitehead and Phenomenology; 11. Whitehead and Pragmatism; 12. Whitehead and Social Sciences; 13. Whitehead and Susanne Langer; 14. Whitehead and the Philosophy of the 21st Century; 15. Whitehead and Theology; 16. Whitehead, Bergson and Deleuze; 17. Whitehead, Mathematics and Physics; and 18. Whitehead, Spinoza and Leibniz.

 

I presented a paper in the “Whitehead and Theology” section titled “On the Goodness of Whitehead’s God: A Defense and Metaphysical Interpretation” in which I defended the goodness of Whitehead’s God against recent claims to the contrary, especially those coming from Pierfrancesco Basile and Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes. The presentation was recorded and can be access in the Media tab. An expanded version of the paper will also appear in Process Studies in a few months. While the conference was excellent, exploring Munich and bickering with various philosophers and theologians in the local beer gardens was a highlight for me. Munich is a very impressive city and has a palpable energy that is linked no doubt to its 100,000+ students. I look forward to returning to the Munich School of Philosophy twice in 2024 for a cross-training program in psychology for philosophers and theologians. More on that later.