Excursion through Chaos: Disorder under the Heavens

Chaos has evolved to encompass confusion, pandemonium, and mayhem, but Stuart Walton argues that this one-dimensional view of the world is a pitiful one. He suggests that we are superstitious about states of affairs in which anything could happen and that this is responsible for the alienation that has characterized postwar society.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 11 February 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Chaos, once synonymous with a gaping void or the emptiness preceding the entirety of creation, has evolved to encompass a singular notion: confusion, pandemonium, and mayhem. This definition has become the overarching term to describe any challenge to the established order, be it railway strikes or political dissent. Any unexpected event is routinely described in the media and popular discourse as chaos. In his groundbreaking new study, Stuart Walton challenges this one-dimensional perspective, highlighting the numerous social, political, artistic, and philosophical advancements that have emerged from periods of disorder and the refusal to confine oneself to conventional paradigms.

Exploring this worldview, Walton argues that we harbor a superstitious fear of uncertain circumstances, as we have been conditioned to prioritize the imposition of rules across various aspects of our lives, from our diets to our romantic relationships. Indeed, in his book "An Excursion through Chaos," Walton demonstrates how these very restrictions are responsible for the alienation that has characterized postwar society, a state of disengagement that could have been avoided if we had adopted a less fearful approach toward the unraveling of order.

Weight: 476g
Dimension: 145 x 223 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350144095