Lecture notes taken during Alfred North Whitehead's classes were recorded not only by his students but also by recent graduates and both junior and senior faculty colleagues. Some sets of notes were deposited in various library archives with which their owners were affiliated, while others were privately retained and discovered later by Whitehead's biographer, Victor Lowe, or by members of the Whitehead Research Project.

In editing lecture notes taken during Whitehead's classes, the editors have operated on a policy of minimal interference with the text. Although we are dealing for the most part with notes on Whitehead's lectures taken by others, the text is the closest thing we have to Whitehead's words. This being the case, we correct what is clearly wrong (such as typographical errors and incorrect bibliographic information) but make no attempt to edit the text aggressively.

The following principles, listed alphabetically, have governed the way in which the text has been edited, standardised or silently corrected, across the Critical Edition. Elaborations and additions specific to each volume may be made as a matter of editorial discretion.