In existographies, Elizabeth Dole Porteus (1911-2010) (CR:10) was an American writer and philosopher noted, in philosophical thermodynamics, for her "impulse theory" of happiness, on the relationship between thermodynamics and happiness. [1] Her generalized philosophy about life is that since, according to the generalized colloquial point of view of the second law as a “law of disintegration”, meaning that “complicated arrangements always break down into less complicated ones”, a state of happiness in life will ensue when one follows the "impulse of integration". [2]
Overview
Porteus obtained her bachelors degree in child study at Vassar College and a masters degree in social work at the Smith College School. In college, a Vassar Professor challenged her to come up with her own philosophy. This stimulus drove Porteus, over the next sixty years, to develop a thermodynamic-based view of child-raising, working, and living as described by her theory of happiness.
Other
Porteus, of curiosity, being the daughter of American self-made industrialist James Dole (1877-1958), aka the “Pineapple King”, the founder of Dole Food Company, was as a child known as the “pineapple princess” of Hawaii, having a bit of American royalty upbringing. (Ѻ)
References
1. (a) Dole, Elizabeth P. (2005). “Life, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and Happiness”, Journal of Human Thermodynamics, Vol. 1, Issue 3. (pg. 21-26). October. Chicago: Institute of Human Thermodynamics.
(b) Porteus, Elizabeth, D. (1987). My Twentieth Century Philosophy. New York: Carlton Press, Inc.
(c) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume Two), (preview), (pgs. 518, 664). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
2. Porteus, Elizabeth P. (1999). The Porteus Philosophy of Life: The Secret of Happiness, (Nov. 14). Hawaii: Porteus Family Publishing.
Further reading
● Anon. (2010). “Obituary: Elizabeth Dole Porteus”, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Aug. 7th.
External links
● Elizabeth Porteus Dole - Porteus.com
