Powerful movements: Empiricism: knowledge comes from experience Skepticism: any view that says there's a limitation on our knowledge. Mechanism: the world is lifeless and operates like a machine Deism: God makes the world and stands back. No divine intervention. >Nietzsche comes across as an atheist. He is a father of existentialism. Nietzsche: Nihilist/Nihilist Nihil = Nothing. Nihilist: doesn't believe in anything, no absolute moral values. Passive nihilism: at the mercy of their own mortality. The view there are no ultimate purposes in the world. no reason to seek purpose. Fatalism. (Stoicism): Leaves every event or action to fate. Your life is set in stone. Doesn't get too excited, doesn't get high or too low. Accepts things the way they are. (Stoic coaches and a bad call in football.) Active nihilism: Nietzsche is an example. Nietzsche looked upon Christians as cowards who were afraid to face reality. They lie to theirselves. Devious ways to keep truths from theirselves. Christians act in such a way they are unwilling to accept that they live in a brutal, non-moral rounded, and dark world. Theory of eternal return: Two ways to look at it: 1) Eternal return, scientific way 2) related to superman, or a moral emphasis. "If the world can be looked upon as a determinate quantum of force, it follows that the world processes will take the form of successive combination of force, the combinations are finite." "It is inevitable that things will come back the same way over and over and over again." "Matter must come together as it originally did, and there will be a natural recurrence of events." "This life as you now live it, you will have to live once more, but every joy and every pain will come back towards you." The demon appears and says you need to live this world over and over again. Would it crush you, or make you stronger? Knowing whatever it is you do, may recur again, and again, and again. How would you live your life if you had to live it over and over again? "This is a blessing to encourage the enhancement of power." Back to scientific hypothesis: From Philosopher, George Simmel, who was proving it wasn't scientifically true. "Imagine 3 wheels of equal sizes, rotating on a single axis, at one point marked on the circumference of each, and the three marked points are lined up in one straight line. If the second wheel rotated twice as fast as the first, and at the speed of the third, was 1/pi of the speed of the first, the initial line lined up on the could never recur." There is one single counter against Nietzche's hypothesis which negates it. I am not understanding the Theory of Eternal return, so if anyone can provide their POV or insight, that would be appreciated. If not, these are my notes. I do not mean to offend anyone or ridicule any particular person. Stay Frosty, -CJS