杜威與懷德海均視宇宙為不斷變遷的歷程，強調真際的時間性、機體性與創造性，肯定經驗的立即性、連續性與自發性，並以「功能」的概念取代「實體」在傳統形上學的地位，因而被納入當代「歷程哲學家」之列。然而杜威是美國實用主義的重要代表人物，雖然早期他曾受到新黑格爾主義與客觀觀念論的影響，但之後他的思想便向自然主義、懷疑論，乃至科學主義傾斜，對有神論與思辨哲學則抱持著批判與否定的態度。反觀懷德海原是科學家與數學家，曾與羅素合作開啟當代符號邏輯之門。但之後卻轉向哲學，以反科學唯物論的機體哲學與歷程宇宙論為其思想主軸；從而衛護西方思辨哲學與理性的傳統，在「有神論」和無神論之外，提供了「萬有在神論」的選擇。又自懷德海移民美國之後，與杜威偶有互動。懷德海曾撰文讚美杜威，杜威也曾兩次撰文評論其哲學並得到懷氏的回應。兩人思想的互逆發展與互動，在當代歷程哲學的研究上，頗值得觀察。

In English speaking world, J.Dewey and A.N. Whitehead were two of the most renowned philosophers of process, who took nature as becoming process, highlighted the temporal, organic, and creative characters of reality, and asserted the immediacy, continuity, and spontaneity of physical and mental experiences. In addition, they both substituted the concept of ”function” for that of ”substance” in the status of traditional metaphysics and thereby had been considered as philosophers thinking process. However, it is noteworthy that Dewey, a great representative of American pragmatism, though having imbibed neo-Kantianism and neo-Hegelianism in the early stage of his philosophical development, directed his thought toward naturalism, skepticism, and empiricism and eventually became critical to theism and speculative philosophy. While Whitehead, though originally a mathematician and a logician, converted to philosophy and became an exponent of speculative philosophy and process metaphysics with a critical attitude to scientific materialism and its variations. With the belief that the role of God is indispensible in the construction of the modern worldview Whitehead suggested the alternative of panentheism other than theism and atheism. The remarkably contrasts between the two and their interactions after Whitehead's migration to America provide an interesting topic in our understanding the development of contemporary process philosophy and their contributions to the related issues.