Increments
Science, Philosophy, Epistemology, Mayhem
Displaying all 2 Episode of Increments with the tag “essentialism”.
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#89 (C&R, Chap 6) - Berkeley vs Newton: The Battle Over Gravity
July 31st, 2025 | 1 hr 11 mins
atoms, berkeley, boltzman, conjectures and refutations, essentialism, forces, gravity, instrumentalism, mach, newton, popper
We dive into the history of the debate between Bishop Berkeley, Ernst Mach, Ludwig Boltzmann, and Isaac Newton. What is a force? Are they allowed in science? Were the positivists right all along?
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#33 (C&R Series, Ch. 3) - Instrumentalism and Essentialism
October 25th, 2021 | 40 mins 10 secs
essentialism, instrumentalism, language, politics, progress
We discuss Popper's delicious criticism of two dominant approaches to knowledge in physics and philosophy departments: instrumentalism and essentialism.