Shannon M. Mussett, "Entropic Philosophy: Chaos, Breakdown, and Creation" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022)
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What is Entropic Philosophy and why does it matter?
Hi everyone, this is Marshall Poe. I'm the founder of the New Books Network, and I'm also a historian. I used to be a history professor, and I love maps. So I'm especially happy to tell you that this episode is sponsored by What's Your Map, which was the winner of the best education podcast at the 2025 British Podcast Awards. What's Your Map is hosted by historian and prize-winning author, Professor Jerry Broughton. In each episode, he invites a guest to share. A map close to their heart and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it. I can tell you I've listened and it's fascinating. The podcast is in its sixth series and is enjoyed by audiences around the globe. You can explore all the maps in the podcast at occulehyphenmundi.com while you listen.
Jerry's guests include Zakya Suewell, who's an English broadcaster, and writer on Finding Albion, Josh Schmidt, who's the Head of maps at the Zurich Central Library, Pat Seed, a US historian on Ptolemy's World Map, John Romero, who's a legendary video game producer on the Doom Game Creator, Elif Sharak, a well known Turkish British novelist, and Chet Van Duzer, a historian who will tell you about Martin Valdsey Mueller's Carter Marina of sixteen forty five. I highly encourage you to subscribe to What's Your Map. It's available on Apple, Spotify, and all major Podcast platforms. Welcome to the new books network.
Hello and welcome to New Books and Philosophy, a podcast channel with the New Books Network. I'm Sarah Tyson, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Denver. And I'm co host of the channel, along with Carrie Figdoor, Robert Talise, and Malcolm Keating. Together we bring you conversations with philosophers about their new books, drawing from a wide range of areas of contemporary philosophical inquiry. Today's interview is with Shannon M. Massette, Professor of Philosophy at Utah Valley University. Her book, Entropic Philosophy Chaos, Breakdown and Creation, is just out from Roman Littlefield. Everything is breaking down. Chaos is increasing. Entropy is not just a metaphor, although it is also that.
In entropic philosophy. Massette argues that while denial and nihilism are common and world shaping responses to entropy, they are not our only options. By revaluing order and stability, chaos and decay, we can turn to entropy with care and see the possibilities for creation and destruction. Lassette makes these arguments attentive to suffering, loss, and oppression. Offering a philosophy of thriving, even as the whole universe inexorably moves towards heat depth. Shannon Massette, welcome to New Books in Philosophy. Thank you, sir. I'm so thrilled to be here. Um well it's great to have you and I'm so excited about your book. So will you tell us how you got to this book. What's your background as a philosopher and how did you come to start thinking about entropy?
It was a very uh strange journey. I certainly never set out to write a book on a theme like this. Um I suppose it started when I moved to Utah, uh when I took the job at Utah Valley University, and I heard about the land art of Robert Smithson, the spiral jetty that's in the Great Salt Lake. And I went out to check it out back in the days before the road was paved and you had to go on a bumpy road and tons of dust out in sort of the middle of nowhere, Utah. And there is this gorgeous work of art that is so unusual because it's just completely isolated and it's falling apart before your eyes, and the work itself. Is entropic. And I didn't realize that at the time, but then I just went and started reading some of Robert Smithson's articles and essays because he was quite a prolific writer.
And it turns out that that was one of his goals was to make works of art that actually performed entropy. So that what was moving or beautiful about the work was that they fell apart. And so that just kind of planted a seed. That eventually just led me to start thinking about entropy in a much broader, wider sense.
Yeah, um it makes a lot of sense for how the book progresses that this began with an aesthetic experience for you.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is Entropic Philosophy and why does it matter?
0:00–17:47
2
How did Shannon Mussett’s experience at Spiral Jetty inspire her book?
17:47–30:34
3
Why do people deny the second law of thermodynamics and what are the consequences?
30:34–41:36
4
How do denial and fatalism shape our responses to entropy?
41:36–53:10
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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