While Whitehead acknowledged that "philosophers can never hope finally to formulate these metaphysical first principles," he argued that people need to continually re-imagine their basic assumptions about how the universe works if philosophy and science are to make any real progress, even if that progress remains permanently asymptotic.
Når Whitehead argumenterer for at "philosophers can never hope finally to formulate these metaphysical first principles," mener han samtidigt at man fortvarende skal gentænke sine mest grundlæggende antagelser om hvordan universet virker hvis filosofien og videnskaben skal gøre noget virkeligt fremskridt, og det selv hvis dette fremskridt altid vil være asymptotisk.