The Science and Philosophy of the "Thermodynamic School" of Evolution
This book was edited by Charles A. S. Hall and published in 1995. It is a synthesis of the creative genius of Howard Thomas Odum as seen through his own words and those of his students, many of whom are now applying his ideas to the world in diverse ways. Offering the holistic, system-oriented thinking…
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This paper was written by Charles A. S. Hall and Timothy McWhirter and published in 2023. It provides a review of the development and use of the maximum power principle in evolutionary theory, ecology, and economics. It includes a discussion of how Alfred Lotka and H. T. Odum both described the maximum power principle applying…
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This book was written by Timothy McWhirter and published in 2025. It examines the relation between the maximum power principle developed by Alfred Lotka and H. T. Odum and the concept of the will to power developed by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It discusses the work of the scientists and philosophers that influenced the…
This short article was written by Mark Brown and published in 2023. Brown did his graduate work at the University of Florida under the guidance of H. T. Odum and is one of the leaders of the International Society for the Advancement of Emergy Research. In this article, he provides a brief overview of the…
This paper was written by Enrico Sciubba and published in 2011. It critically analyzes the maximum power principle, focusing primarily on Alfred Lotka’s formulation of the principle. Sciubba concludes that the weakness of Lotka’s view of evolution appears to be his insistence on the validity of a maximum principle. Sciubba suggests that contemporary scientists are…
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This paper was written by Douglas S. Glazier and published in 2024. It provides one of the most comprehensive and detailed analyses of the relation between power and efficiency in living systems. He uses the results of his analysis to critically evaluate the principles that have been used to explain the evolution of living systems,…