Entropic Philosophy: Chaos, Breakdown, and Creation

Front Cover
Rowman & Littlefield, 2022 - History - 220 pages
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-- Back cover.

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About the author (2022)

Shannon Mussett is Professor of Philosophy at Utah Valley University. She specializes in Existentialism, German Idealism, Feminist Theory, and Aesthetics. She is co-editor of Beauvoir and the History of Philosophy from Plato to Butler (SUNY Press, 2012) and The Contradictions of Freedom: Philosophical Essays on Simone de Beauvoir's 'Les Mandarins' (SUNY Press, 2006).

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