Thermodynamics is the most general phenomenological theory utilised in the description of behaviour of surrounding world. Two tendencies existing in surrounding world – towards organisation and dissipation of matter and energy – are represented by two state functions: energy (enthalpy) and entropy, respectively. Global behaviour reflects free energy or Gibbs free energy state functions, being combination of two mentioned above quantities, values of which decrease in spontaneous processes. The lowest energy states of matter can be described on the ground of thermodynamics of reversible processes, while other states – employing thermodynamics of real, irreversible processes. In latter processes – among others chemical processes, which require overcoming of the activation barriers – energy is conserved while entropy is created, so they are the source of entropy. This fact is utilised in thermodynamics of irreversible processes by defining thermodynamic fluxes, reflecting changes of the system in time, and thermodynamic forces causing them. The sum of products of thermodynamic forces and conjugated with them fluxes define quantity named entropy source. The surrounding world exists in stationary state for which entropy source is constant in time. Living matter on the Earth exists in such a state and thermodynamics of irreversible processes can be used to explain peculiarities accompanying this phenomenon. In nonstationary state entropy source changes in time and, among others, chemical processes occur. For these processes, changes of values of state functions upon reaction are obtained on the ground of thermodynamics of reversible processes, but more important information can be extracted from thermodynamics of irreversible processes – particularly its fragment devoted to chemical processes, namely chemical kinetics. Various aspects of the latter area of knowledge are the subject of continuous interest of chemists and researchers involved in thermoanalytical investigations. The lecture will be focused on principles of thermodynamics of irreversible processes, relations of it with chemical kinetics, possibilities of gaining kinetic information experimentally and theoretically, and prospects of employing thermodynamics to explain behaviour of surrounding us nature.