by Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle Stengers
Order Out of Chaos is a work co-authored by Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine and philosopher Isabelle Stengers, offering a critical examination of modern scientific knowledge through the lens of thermodynamics. The book challenges traditional views of time and chance, advocating for a deeper understanding of the irreversibility of the arrow of time and the role of chance in complex systems.
“Thus, in broad-stroke terms, Prigogine and Stengers argue that traditional science in the Age of the Machine tended to emphasize stability, order, uniformity, and equilibrium. It concerned itself mostly with closed systems and linear relation ships in which small inputs uniformly yield small results.” (Prigogine and Stengers, XIV).
First published in France in 1984, it presents an accessible account of the philosophical implications of thermodynamics, synthesizing seemingly contradictory ideas about time and chaos. Since its release, Order Out of Chaos has sparked extensive debate across a wide range of disciplines, including physics, philosophy, literary criticism, and history.