Colloquium with Pedro Brea (ENV 125).
"The Birth of Energy from the Spirit of Revenge":

My thesis is that a genealogical study of the concept of energy shows that energy discourse, from Ancient Greece to modern science, is marked by a pattern of ressentiment. Although, as Cara Daggett notes in The Birth of Energy, the term "energy" as we ordinarily think of it today was developed in the context of British 19th century thermodynamics, the history of philosophy and science leading up to its creation is one where metaphysical and physical thought are dominated by the idea of spatialized, reversible time - i.e., that time is simply derivative of the successive movements of extended objects, rather than a fundamental phenomenon in its own right with an irreversible direction. It should also be noted that the concept of a fundamental substance or life force that permeates the universe is not exclusive to the western tradition's concept of energy, but appears in other cultures, such as prana in Hinduism, Qi in Chinese culture, and the pneuma of the Stoics, among others. My task, however, is to demonstrate that the conceptual logic of energy (as developed in the 19th century, informed by the western scientific and philosophical tradition, and carried on into 20thcentury physics) is derived from the temporal logic of ressentiment. My fundamental claim is that western philosophy's overwhelming desire, and ultimate failure, to grasp what is unchanging in time - i.e., the historical impetus behind the development of the concept of energy in western science and metaphysics - betrays a devaluation of the temporality of life in favor of a spatialized interpretation of time, where the distinction between past, present, and future are merely an illusion. If this hypothesis is correct, then overcoming ressentiment could have significant epistemological consequences for how philosophy and the natural sciences are practiced, as well as ethical consequences for our relationships with others, our present strife with earthly temporality, and our estimation of the value of life. Furthermore, it is possible to consider the consequences of this project for energy politics and practices from the synoptic to the individual scale, toward an energy imaginary that synergizes with the temporality of our planet and transforms traditional western values and perceptions of our relationship with nature from one of frenzied extraction and exploitation, to one of care and stewardship, that focuses on collective/ecological responsibility, rather than individual sovereignty and the profit motive.