Center for Process Studies

Center for Process Studies Conducting research and providing resources on holistic thinking for the advancement of wellbeing. Cobb, Jr.

Influenced by the work of philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), CPS was founded in 1973 by professors John B. and David Ray Griffin to conduct cutting edge interdisciplinary research guided by the view that interconnection, change, and intrinsic value are core features of the universe. CPS seeks to harmonize fragmented disciplinary thinking in order to develop more inte

grated and holistic modes of thought. Through innovative conferences, courses, and events, a visiting scholars program, several book series, a peer-reviewed journal, and the world’s largest library/archives of process-relational thought, CPS explores the implications of process principles across a range of disciplines and topics in science, ecology, psychology, philosophy, religion, education, art, political theory, and more.

In this presentation, economist Doug Lippoldt will illustrate manifestations of systemic challenges using a sectoral cas...
06/06/2026

In this presentation, economist Doug Lippoldt will illustrate manifestations of systemic challenges using a sectoral case study approach focused on a set of middle-income developing countries striving to engage more deeply in the AI economy. The sample will include countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Learn more & RSVP: https://ctr4process.org/event/process-explorations-2026-06-09/

Decisions must be made; the future must be created. The creatures of the present must decide between many possibilities ...
06/05/2026

Decisions must be made; the future must be created. The creatures of the present must decide between many possibilities for what may happen,and their collective decisions bring the new moment into being.

-C. Robert Mesle, Process-Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead, p. 7

In this presentation, Christie Byers will explore what it might mean to teach science as if the world were alive. Drawin...
06/04/2026

In this presentation, Christie Byers will explore what it might mean to teach science as if the world were alive. Drawing on Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy, she shares an approach to elementary science education that shifts away from viewing nature as inert and mechanical, and toward experiencing it as relational and participatory, a community of diverse subjects infused with value. Rather than teaching Whitehead’s ideas explicitly, Byers designs her course as an embodied enactment of them, using an “as if” approach, “as if” we are indeed living in a Whiteheadian cosmos, inviting preservice teachers to encounter science through wonder, aesthetic experience, and direct engagement with the more-than-human world.

Learn more & RSVP: https://ctr4process.org/event/a-process-relational-approach-to-teaching-science-christie-byers/

This six-session course led by Dan Dombrowski will use Charles Hartshorne’s book 'Philosophers Speak of God' to examine ...
06/02/2026

This six-session course led by Dan Dombrowski will use Charles Hartshorne’s book 'Philosophers Speak of God' to examine both the concept of God and the existence of God. Through this text, students will explore classical theism, religious skepticism, and neoclassical (or process) theism.

The course as a whole is an exploration of the relationship between faith and reason, with an emphasis on the latter, although the fideistic view will also be considered. Further, the course can be seen as an exercise in liberal religion as a third way between orthodoxy and religious skepticism.

Learn more & sign up: https://portal.ctr4process.org/offerings/philosophers-speak-of-god/

Those societies which cannot combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay either f...
06/01/2026

Those societies which cannot combine reverence to their symbols with freedom of revision, must ultimately decay either from anarchy, or from the slow atrophy of a life stifled by useless shadows.

-Alfred North Whitehead, Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect, p. 8

In this session, Lopon Dorje Khandro and Rev. Dr. Dhammabodhi will briefly explore critical intersections between Buddhi...
05/30/2026

In this session, Lopon Dorje Khandro and Rev. Dr. Dhammabodhi will briefly explore critical intersections between Buddhism, New Paradigm Sciences, and the Practicalities of Dementia Caregiving in the United States. They will focus on how to maintain a radical compassionate caregiving presence, insure the provision of essential and non-exploitative care, and recognize the “luminous mind” while serving humans and animals whose physical capacities, cognitive functions, and identities are fading. The presenters will also share their main Buddhist and caregiving practices such as Tonglen (sending and taking), Chod (cutting practice), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and some new and old visual, sound, touch and olfactory therapies.

Learn more & RSVP: https://ctr4process.org/event/process-explorations-2026-06-02/

No people can afford to reject their past entirely, for it is their past that has made their personal identity.-Muhammad...
05/29/2026

No people can afford to reject their past entirely, for it is their past that has made their personal identity.

-Muhammad Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p. 132

In this course, participants will explore various world religions, as well as indigenous/traditional ways of thinking an...
05/28/2026

In this course, participants will explore various world religions, as well as indigenous/traditional ways of thinking and living, through a lens of process and relational thought. Over the course of seven sessions, we will discuss Indigenous/Traditional Ways, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity.

As we approach each tradition, we will seek to encounter its commitments and matters of ultimate concern alongside its primary practices, exploring how it may be situated within process and relational metaphysics. Through this lens, we might ask how each tradition fosters zest and enjoyment, nourishes its adherents’ spiritual and ethical lives, and knits communities together, with an eye on each tradition’s view of the proper relationship between the transpersonal or sacred and humans, as well as between humans and the earth.

Learn more & sign up: https://portal.ctr4process.org/offerings/processing-religion-wisdom-traditions-2026/

In his new book, Made by Love, for Love, author Michael M. Rose invites readers to reimagine Christianity—not as a drama...
05/26/2026

In his new book, Made by Love, for Love, author Michael M. Rose invites readers to reimagine Christianity—not as a drama of sin and obligatory appeasing sacrifice, but as a cosmic love story still unfolding. Far from cracking under the weight of an expanding universe, the gospel becomes more radiant, more necessary, and more astonishing than ever. For the spiritually disillusioned, the deconstructing, and anyone wondering whether Christianity can still be good news, Made by Love, for Love offers a vision of faith big enough for the cosmos and personal enough for our deepest wounds. In this Process Pop-Up, Rose will introduce his project and invite conversation.

Learn more & RSVP: https://processandfaith.org/event/process-pop-up-made-by-love-for-love-reimagining-god-power-and-faith/

Death and the passage of time destroy no concrete realities: for the concrete consists of events, not persons or things,...
05/25/2026

Death and the passage of time destroy no concrete realities: for the concrete consists of events, not persons or things, but persons or things at given moments.

-Charles Hartshorne, Omnipotence and Other Theological Mistakes, p. 48

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