September

Question 1

Olber’s Paradox

Answer 1

Why is the sky dark at night?

Question 2

Genealogy of morals essay 1

Answer 2

Etymology of good = noble
Master morality = strong v weak, good v bad.
Slave morality = oppressed v oppressor, good v evil.

Slave is always defined in terms of the master.
Master is unreflective in pursuit of his own goals.
Slave as resentful.

How slave morality came to dominate via Christianity

Question 3

Genealogy of morals essay 2

Answer 3

Ought from owing
Unpayable debt to ancestors leads to idea of God
Will to power confined by civilization turns inward to punish the self with guilt and pain
“Bad conscience”

Question 4

Popper concept of scientific knowledge

Answer 4

Purely logical construct. Link to observed particulars is very weak.

Question 5

Popper basic statements

Answer 5

Observation is theory laden, must rely on basic statements that are intersubjectively testable

Question 6

Degrees of falsifiability

Answer 6

Every empirical theory rules out some event that entails an infinite number of basic statements. Must understand falsifiability as a matter of degree. Some theories will be incommensurable- those whose sets of falsifiers do not overlap, but when one theory has a set of falsifiers that includes another theory’s set of falsifiers, then we can safely say it is more falsifiable. E.g. Einstein and Newton.