Christian Thomas Kohl The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science

actions arising out of such complex feelings with their core of deep
intuition are in primitive times often brutish and nasty. Finally civilized
language provides a whole group of words, each embodying the general
idea under its own specialization. If we desire to reach the generality
common to these various specializations, we must gather together the
whole group of words with the hope of discerning their common element.
This is a necessary procedure for the purpose of philosophical
generalization. The premature use of one familiar word inevitably limits
the required generalization by importing the familiar special connotation
of that word.
For example, [Cf. Process and Reality passim, where the second of the
doctrines stated below is developed.] let the working hypothesis be that
the ultimate realities are the events in their process of origination. Then
each event, viewed in its separate individuality, is a passage between two
ideal termini, namely, its components in their ideal disjunctive diversity
passing into the same components in their concrete togetherness. There
are two current doctrines as to this process. One is that of the external
Creator, eliciting this final togetherness out of nothing. The other
doctrine is that it is a metaphysical principle, belonging to the nature of
things, that there is nothing in the Universe other than instances of this
passage and components of these instances. Let this latter doctrine be
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