Entropic Philosophy: Chaos, Breakdown, and Creation (Philosophical Projections)

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. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Preface 12 Notes 15 Introduction 18 Different Threads 23 Notes 30 Chapter 1: Entropy in Science and Metaphor 34 The Science of Entropy 35 The Metaphor of Entropy 42 Notes 46 Chapter 2: Entropy in Ancient Greek Thought 52 Chaos and Disorder in Hesiod 55 Entropic Precursors in Presocratic Philosophy 58 Plato’s Divine Order 61 Aristotle’s Uncreated Universe 68 Notes 73 Chapter 3: Entropy in German Philosophies of Nature 78 The Problem of Nature in Kant and Schelling 81 Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature 87 Notes 95 Chapter 4: Leveling Modernity: Entropy in Freud and Lévi-Strauss 100 Freudian Entropics 102 Lévi-Straussean Entropics 111 Notes 117 Chapter 5: Old Age and Entropic Decline 124 Machine and Profit 127 Beauvoir and Entropic Denial 132 Aging and Working in the United States 135 Notes 142 Chapter 6: Entropic Excess: Reconfiguring Matter and Waste 148 Matter and Waste 151 Robert Smithson’s Materiality 158 Notes 167 Chapter 7: Destruction and the Joy of Creation 172 Nietzschean Entropics 174 Smithsonian Entropics 181 Notes 189 Conclusion 194 Notes 199 Bibliography 202 Index 212 "Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book traces the development of entropic themes, capturing phenomena ranging from chaos, disorder, homogenization, slackening, dissipation, and ultimately death"-- Provided by publisher