Abstract A number of specific examples show that replacing the energy carrier of the thermal form of motion with entropy as a heat transfer coordinate leads to paralogisms, the number of which increases as the scope of application of thermodynamics expands. The epistemological roots of these paralogisms are revealed and a more general measure of the amount of chaotic motion, called a thermal impulse for brevity, is proposed. It is shown how its use instead of entropy eliminates almost all paralogisms known and discovered by the author, including the prediction of the thermal death of the Universe and the degradation of biological systems, and opens the way to expanding the scope of applicability of the thermodynamic method, to the synthesis of thermodynamics with other fundamental disciplines and to a deeper understanding of the world order.