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/lp/university-of-illinois-press/entropy-eternity-and-unheimlichkeit-in-william-james-s-philosophy-IJvrusCx4a
- Publisher
- University of Illinois Press
- ISSN
- 2156-4795
Abstract
Entropy, Eternity, and Unheimlichkeit in William James’s Philosophy Romain Mollard For naturalism, fed on recent cosmological speculations, mankind is in a position similar to that of a set of people living on a frozen lake, sur- rounded by cliffs over which there is no escape, yet knowing that little by little the ice is melting, and the inevitable day drawing near when the last film of it will disappear, and to be drowned ignominiously will be the human creature’s portion. The merrier the skating, the warmer and more sparkling the sun by day, and the ruddier the bonfires at night, the more poignant the sadness with which one must take in the meaning of the total situation. —William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience aron Kelvin, in an 1852 paper called “On a Universal Tendency in Nature to the Dissipation of Mechanical Energy,” said that the irrevers- Bible running down of the earth’s energy meant that it was irreversibly heading to a “thermal death” and that it would become “unfit for the habitation of man as at present constituted.” In the following decades, talks about the thermal death of the earth or of the solar system became very popular
Journal
American Journal of Theology & Philosophy – University of Illinois Press
Published: Aug 5, 2020