In existographies, Werner Ehrenberg (1901-1975) (CR:3) was a English physicist, noted for his 1967 “Maxwell’s Demon”, wherein he gives a short overview of Maxwell’s demon theory, characterized as a “good historical overview of Brillouin’s work” (Leff, 2002) (Ѻ), and for his posthumously published 1977 Dice of the Gods: Causality, Necessity and Chance, wherein he seems to give an ambivalent ontic opening like argument to explain soul and morality in the context of modern science.
Conduction irreversibility
In 1943, Ehrenberg, in his “A Note on Entropy and Irreversible Processes”, seems to have been working on some type of electrical conduction theory of irreversibility, the abstract of which is as follows: [4]
“On the basis of an analysis of the notion “body” in thermodynamics irreversible processes are classified as “conduction” and as “breaking-up” processes. A new derivation of the relation dS=dQ/T is given on the basis of Clausius's principle, and it is shown that this relation is not restricted to reversible processes, but holds for irreversible “conduction” processes as well. Bridgman's hypothesis, the theory of Carathéodory and Born and the bearing of the new derivation on the interpretation of the equilibrium conditions are discussed.”
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Maxwell's demon
In 1967, Ehrenberg (age 66), published his “Maxwell’s Demon”, wherein typical of scientists into their 60s and 70s, he begins to put focus on the bigger meaning and morality questions of existence in the context of modern science, while retaining a surface-appearance scientific-like demeanor. The following are example quotes:
“A practical system with immunity from the second law of thermodynamics would be … capable of returning the fuel after the work is done.”
“Similar calculations appear to be applicable whenever intelligent beings propose to act as sorting demons.”
Scholars related to and or citing Ehrenberg’s article include: William Ross Ashby (An Introduction to Cybernetics, 1963), Jacques Monod (Chance and Necessity, 1971), and Erwin Schrodinger (What is Life?, 1943). (Ѻ)
Dice of the Gods
See main: God does not play dice
Ehrenberg, in his 1977 Dice of the Gods: Causality, Necessity and Chance, discusses how Aristotle compared atoms to the letters of the alphabet”, and discusses the pros and cons of the indeterminism argument, statement such as: [1]
“… proof of indeterminism. It has been argued that strict causality is not incompatible with moral judgment and true statements. Other others have considered free will and truth utterly problematic.”
This last publication may have been some type of ontic opening stylized attempt to stylize “soul” in scientific terms; a few example quotes:
“How then do these two substances, matter and mind, interact; in particular, how does the mind or soul affect the body? Descartes had satisfied himself that the properties of matter cannot include the capacity of …” (pg. 21)
“… ambiguous connection which may be called individual causality has still all the marks of causality without requiring a cause for the deviation. It may well exist and be the root of the freedom of the soul. It is truly remarkable how close Simmel, being a student of the …” (pg. 46)
Here we see Ehrenberg, in his last year, grappling with the classic "mind, matter, and soul" problem, namely how modern scientific views on "mind and matter" situate in the older "soul" or moral movement, and or continuity theories, in respect to the big picture of humans and movements and activities of humans in a large dynamic universe.
Education
In 1949, Ehrenberg was associated with the research laboratory at Birkbeck College, London, focused it seems on electrical phenomena and x-rays. In 1961, Ehrenberg was chair of experimental physics and head of the department at Birkbeck College. (Ѻ)
References
1. Ehrenberg, Werner. (1977). Dice of the Gods: Causality, Necessity and Chance (indeterminism, 4+ pgs; quote, pg. 13). Birkbeck College.
2. (a) Ehrenberg, Werner. (1967). “Maxwell’s Demon” (pdf), Scientific America, 217(5):103-110, Nov.
(b) Cooper, Peter L. (1983). Signs and Symptoms: Thomas Pynchon and the Contemporary World (pg. 89). University of California Press.
(c) Poirier, Richard. (2003), “The Importance of Tomas Pynchon” (pg. 52), in: Thomas Pynchon (editor: Harold Bloom). Infobase Publishing.
3. Ehrenberg, Werner. (1943). “Note on Entropy and Irreversible Processes” (abs). Philosophical Magazine, 34(233):396-409.
Further reading
● Roberts, Franck C. (1975). “Obituary: Professor W. Ehrenberg”, Times, Dec 2.
External links
● Ehrenberg, W. 1901-1975 (Werner) – WorldCat Identities.
