Abstract
Two conceptions of thermodynamics are distinguished. On one, thermodynamics is a resource theory, a theory about how agents with specified means of manipulating a physical system can exploit its physical properties to achieve specified ends, such as obtaining useful work. On the other, thermodynamics has been severed from its roots in technological considerations, and is a theory of the macroscopic bulk properties of matter. I argue that the envisaged severance has not and cannot be wholly achieved, and that recognizing this sheds light on the philosophical conundrums associated with thermodynamics, in particular its relation to statistical mechanics.
