Energy Dreams

Of Actuality

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Ancient, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, Philosophy & Social Aspects
Cover of the book Energy Dreams by Michael Marder, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Michael Marder ISBN: 9780231542838
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: March 21, 2017
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Michael Marder
ISBN: 9780231542838
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: March 21, 2017
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

The question of energy is among the most vital for the future of humanity and the flourishing of life on this planet. Yet, only very rarely (if at all) do we ask what energy is, what it means, what ends it serves, and how it is related to actuality, meaning-making, and instrumentality. Energy Dreams interrogates the ontology of energy from the first coinage of the word energeia by Aristotle to the current practice of fracking and the popularity of "energy drinks." Its sustained, multi-disciplinary investigation builds a theoretical infrastructure for an alternative energy paradigm.

This study unhinges stubbornly held assumptions about energy, conceived in terms of a resource to be violently extracted from the depths of the earth and from certain living beings (such as plants, converted into biofuels), a thing that, teetering on the verge of depletion, sparks off movement and is incompatible with the inertia of rest. Consulting the insights of philosophers, theologians, psychologists and psychoanalysts, economic and political theorists, and physicists, Michael Marder argues that energy is not only a coveted object of appropriation but also the subject who dreams of amassing it; that it not only resides in the dimension of depth but also circulates on the surface; that it activates rest as much as movement, potentiality as much as actuality; and that it is both the means and the end of our pursuits. Ultimately, Marder shows that, instead of being grounded in utopian naïveté, the dreams of another energy—to be procured without devastating everything in existence—derive from the suppressed concept of energy itself.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The question of energy is among the most vital for the future of humanity and the flourishing of life on this planet. Yet, only very rarely (if at all) do we ask what energy is, what it means, what ends it serves, and how it is related to actuality, meaning-making, and instrumentality. Energy Dreams interrogates the ontology of energy from the first coinage of the word energeia by Aristotle to the current practice of fracking and the popularity of "energy drinks." Its sustained, multi-disciplinary investigation builds a theoretical infrastructure for an alternative energy paradigm.

This study unhinges stubbornly held assumptions about energy, conceived in terms of a resource to be violently extracted from the depths of the earth and from certain living beings (such as plants, converted into biofuels), a thing that, teetering on the verge of depletion, sparks off movement and is incompatible with the inertia of rest. Consulting the insights of philosophers, theologians, psychologists and psychoanalysts, economic and political theorists, and physicists, Michael Marder argues that energy is not only a coveted object of appropriation but also the subject who dreams of amassing it; that it not only resides in the dimension of depth but also circulates on the surface; that it activates rest as much as movement, potentiality as much as actuality; and that it is both the means and the end of our pursuits. Ultimately, Marder shows that, instead of being grounded in utopian naïveté, the dreams of another energy—to be procured without devastating everything in existence—derive from the suppressed concept of energy itself.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book At the Mercy of Their Clothes by Michael Marder
Cover of the book The Rationale Divinorum Officiorum of William Durand of Mende by Michael Marder
Cover of the book Carboniferous Giants and Mass Extinction by Michael Marder
Cover of the book Chinese Fossil Vertebrates by Michael Marder
Cover of the book Paleopoetics by Michael Marder
Cover of the book Chaos Imagined by Michael Marder
Cover of the book The Road Movie by Michael Marder
Cover of the book Dangerous Trade by Michael Marder
Cover of the book A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age by Michael Marder
Cover of the book Rites of Return by Michael Marder
Cover of the book The Implied Spider by Michael Marder
Cover of the book The Traveler's Guide to Space by Michael Marder
Cover of the book On Bicycles by Michael Marder
Cover of the book Courtesans and Opium by Michael Marder
Cover of the book Records of Dispossession by Michael Marder
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy