| | Coincidentally after his wedding with devout catholic Evelyn W. Wade, Whitehead entered a period of his life when he was collecting many theological and historical writings. Nevertheless, in the second half of the eighteen-nineties he cleared the shelves of his library an openly declared himself a non-believer. This agnostic period, marked with zeal for serving the progress of society with secular characteristics, lasted for 20 years, and Whitehead later stated that his misperceived suppositions with regard to the possibility of progress in science was the main reason for his abandoning his faith in God. The bizarre thing was that he felt that the new theories and situation in field of physics disqualify the absolute validity of Newtonian principles which he regarded as fundamentally supporting his theistic views. | | Coincidentally after his wedding with devout catholic Evelyn W. Wade, Whitehead entered a period of his life when he was collecting many theological and historical writings. Nevertheless, in the second half of the eighteen-nineties he cleared the shelves of his library an openly declared himself a non-believer. This agnostic period, marked with zeal for serving the progress of society with secular characteristics, lasted for 20 years, and Whitehead later stated that his misperceived suppositions with regard to the possibility of progress in science was the main reason for his abandoning his faith in God. The bizarre thing was that he felt that the new theories and situation in field of physics disqualify the absolute validity of Newtonian principles which he regarded as fundamentally supporting his theistic views. |
| − | Thus, after departing the faith in God, he started to support the Liberal Party and occasionally also the [[Labor Party]]. The next turning-point in his way of thinking was, however, taking place when [[World War I]] broke up and lists of dead included also his university colleagues, pupils, and last but not least, his own youngest 19-year son Eric, who, serving the British air forces, was shot down on the 13 March 1918 from the French sky. V. Lowe, based on later discussions with Whitehead’s other two war-surviving children, maintains that this tragedy in family had the significant impact on Whitehead’s return on path of faith in God.<ref name="Andrle"/> | + | Thus, after departing the faith in God, he started to support the Liberal Party and occasionally also the [[Labor Party]]. The next turning-point in his way of thinking was, however, taking place when [[World War I]] broke up and lists of dead included also his university colleagues, pupils, and last but not least, his own youngest 19-year-old son Eric, who, serving the British air forces, was shot down on the 13 March 1918 from the French sky. V. Lowe, based on later discussions with Whitehead’s other two war-surviving children, maintains that this tragedy in family had the significant impact on Whitehead’s return on path of faith in God.<ref name="Andrle"/> |