Maximum Power and its Philosophical Roots

The Critical Importance Today of the Ideas of Howard Odum and Friedrich Nietzsche
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-3-031-80621-6
Verlag: Springer Nature Switzerland

Buch, Englisch, 146 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 260 g

Reihe: SpringerBriefs in Energy

This Briefs volume focuses on the maximum power principle, which was created by the mathematician and physical chemist Alfred Lotka, and further developed and utilized most prominently by the systems ecologist H. T. Odum, who applied it to different physical, biological, ecological and economic systems. They both described this principle providing a thermodynamic framework for evolutionary theory. This principle has a philosophical heritage that has, until now, gone unrecognized. The 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche viewed his concept of the will to power as an empirical principle that describes how organic and inorganic systems develop in ways that grow in power. This book describes this interdisciplinary story: it discusses the development of both principles, reviews the empirical and theoretical support for them, critically examines their alleged limitations, and describes their philosophical implications, evidenced in a particularly provocative manner by Nietzsche's and Odum's critiques of moral and religious values.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

McWhirter, Timothy

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Thermodynamik
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Ökologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction.- Energy in the History of Science and Philosophy.- The Historical Roots of Maximum Power.- Lotka and the Principle of Maximum Energy Flux.- Odum and the Synthesis of Power.- Nietzsche's Will to Power.- Odum and Nietzsche: Parallel, Differences, and Implications.- Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Timothy McWhirter is a professor of philosophy in the World Languages and Philosophy department at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. He has a Ph. D. in philosophy from Florida State University and a B. A. in philosophy from the University of South Florida.