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Entropic Philosophy

Chaos, Breakdown, and Creation
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Now is a time of tremendous anxiety about the present and future state of the world. As the second law of thermodynamics states, entropy never decreases, time marches relentlessly forward, and closed systems inevitably break down. Entropy serves as a powerful metaphor capturing expressions of growing malaise and decline. Entropic Philosophy: Chaos, Breakdown, and Creation builds on the meaning of entropy from the Greek entropia, signifying "a turning toward" or "transformation." Developing a philosophy of entropy, this book draws variously from anthropology, psychoanalysis, literature, art, and the history of philosophy. This approach opens pathways for reverence and care that are crucial in preventing fear, existential inertia, and despair.
Shannon Mussett is Professor of Philosophy at Utah Valley University
Acknowledgments Preface Introduction Chapter One: Entropy in Science and Metaphor Chapter Two: Entropy in Ancient Greek Thought Chapter Three: Entropy in German Philosophies of Nature Chapter Four: Leveling Modernity: Entropy in Freud and Levi-Strauss Chapter Five: Old Age and Entropic Decline Chapter Six: Entropic Excess: Reconfiguring Matter and Waste Chapter Seven: Destruction and the Joy of Creation Conclusion Bibliography Author Bio
Mussett's work is a striking display of erudition that provides a novel re-introduc tion to and re-reading of the history of Western thought. It offers a profound and creative new approach to the exigency of our ethical responsibilities to one another and our world, inviting us to think how we might craft a new and more reverent way of being in the future. Profoundly important contribution to contemporary philosophy. * Continental Philosophy Review * This beautiful book might be called Tristes Entropiques. Shannon Mussett explains how the conception of the law of entropy has disturbed our understanding of human endeavor. Instead of concluding that all is vanity, she finds bases for grace in Homer, Nietzsche, and Smithson. -- Andrew Cutrofello, Loyola University, Chicago
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