HPS100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Big Bang, Neurophysiology, Empirical Evidence
8 Jan 2017
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The history of science teaches us that theories change: what was accepted yesterday may or may not be accepted today. E. g. the transition from aristotelian physics to newtonian physics to the contemporary general relativity. Astrology: geocentric astrology (earth in the centre) to keplerian astrology (elliptical. Is there absolute knowledge? astronomy) to contemporary astrology (big bang theory) Adding 2 apples to existing apple, get 3 apples; getting same result with cherries and bananas. Then generalize the results of our observations and arrive at the conclusion. However, we don"t need fruit to justify this equation. We start with definitions: the definition of 2 is 1+1, the definition of 3 is 1+1+1, then we arrive at the conclusion deductively, logically, with no observation or experiment. Some basic theorems follow immediately from definitions. Definition 1 + definition 2 => theorem 1. Other theorems follow from definitions and basic theorems. Definition 1 + theorem 1 => theorem 2.
