Quine and Whitehead: ontology and methodology

The very idea of a basis for comparing the philosophies of W.V. Quine and A.N. Whitehead may be surprising to most philosophers, including Quine himself. Both produced systems of thought that have taken philosophy in two completely different directions. Quine's thought has remained at the forefront of contemporary analytic philosophy for the better part of the 20th century, while Whitehead's influence has been reserved for a relatively small number of devotees who have cut their own path. With regard to the, latter, Anthony Quinton has remarked: "Outside the sequestered province of the cult, Whitehead is regarded With a measure of baffled reverence, mingled with suspicion." While Whitehead was clearly made of "the right stuff," says Quinton, his philosophical. writings have been utterly incomprehensible to the general philosophical community.