Abstract

The inspiration for this paper comes from the Fiftieth Anniversary of the death of Alfred North Whitehead and the theme of this Congress. In Aims of Education, Whitehead describes the role of freedom and limitation in the educational process. The foundations of these concepts, and important clues to their application, can be found in his general metaphysical framework outlined in Process and Reality. Positive and negative prehensions seem to be the model for freedom and limitation; hence, the latter concept implies the discipline of subjective aim. This analysis supports an interpretation of the mutual complementarity of freedom and discipline, with obvious applications to the educational process.