The condition of life in nature is the problem erected in Philosophy and Science. Indeed, it is the central meeting point for all efforts of systematic thinking, humanistic, naturalistic or philosophical. The true meaning of life is doubtful. The paper considers prerequisites of creating by Alfred North Whitehead the theory about the essence of nature and the problem of constructing of the new categorical paradigm. The Whitehead's criticism of mechanical materialism of the 17th century and his attempt to work out a unified concept of nature as a process has been analyzed.