Energetics (philosophy)

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As Energetics has Wilhelm Ostwald represented a philosophical view that a non-drawing on the natural sciences at the turn of the 20th century materialistic , non- spiritualistic monism included. In secondary literature (analogous to materialism ) there is also the term energetism . Ostwald refers to the then known laws of energy and its transformations. In energetism, matter and consciousness and all change and development processes are monistically traced back to the transformation of forms of energy. The energetism propagated by Wilhelm Ostwald emerged as a conclusion from his own research, as a reaction to the mechanistically understood atomic hypothesis and the influence of Ernst Mach's criticism of knowledge .

Wilhelm Ostwald understood energetism as a new monism because it could be used to scientifically explain material and ideal processes. He wrote: The simple and natural abolition of the old difficulties, which oppose the union of the concepts of matter and spirit, by subordinating both to the concept of energy, seems to me to be a gain ...

Wilhelm Ostwald is convinced that the effect of dissipation is the basis of all ethics. He wrote: As a result, all processes on earth proceed in such a way that the free or available amounts of energy are constantly decreasing. Only compliance with the “energetic imperative” “Do not waste energy - use it!” Can postpone the expected “heat death” as far as possible. Because humans would also have to fight for the available energy, Wilhelm Ostwald made numerous attempts to identify wasted energy and to suggest alternatives.

After the First World War, “energetism” was hardly present in the standard works on philosophy. More recently, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen , Hermann Scheer and Friedrich Reinhard Schmidt have drawn on Ostwald's ideas.

literature

  • Wilhelm Ostwald: Lectures on natural philosophy . Published by Veit & Comp., Leipzig 1902.
  • Wilhelm Ostwald: Energetic foundations of cultural studies . Leipzig 1909.
  • Wilhelm Ostwald: The energetic imperative . 1st row. Leipzig: Academic Publishing Society 1912
  • Jan-Peter Domschke; Peter Lewandrowski: Wilhelm Ostwald - life, work and conceptions of society . Dissertation. Karl Marx University Leipzig 1977
  • Jan-Peter Domschke: The reception of the philosophical and epistemological conceptions of W. Ostwald in the Marxist-Leninist philosophy . Habilitation thesis. Karl Marx University Leipzig 1989
  • Arnher Lenz, Volker Mueller (ed.): Wilhelm Ostwald: Monism and energy . Neu-Isenburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-933037-84-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Ostwald: Studies on energetics. 2. Basics of general energetics. Reports. Negotiations of the Kgl. Saxon Society of Sciences. Math. Phys. Cl. 44 (1892), pp. 211-237.
  2. ^ Wilhelm Ostwald: The overcoming of scientific materialism. In: Negotiations between German naturalists and doctors. 67th Assembly in Lübeck. 1st part. The general meetings. Leipzig: Vogel, 1895.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Ostwald: Lectures on natural philosophy, held in the summer of 1901 at the University of Leipzig. Leipzig: Veit, 1902, p. VIII.
  4. ^ Wilhelm Ostwald: Lectures on natural philosophy, held in the summer of 1901 at the University of Leipzig. Leipzig: Veit, 1902, p. 260.
  5. ^ Jan-Peter Domschke: The reception of the philosophical and epistemological conceptions of W. Ostwald in the Marxist-Leninist philosophy . Habilitation thesis. Karl Marx University Leipzig 1989, pp. 117-120

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