In Thus Spake Zaruthustra (1883–92) he wrote about the Übermensch or ‘Super-Man’. This describes an imagined person of the future who is not held back by conventional moral codes, but goes beyond them, creating new values. Perhaps influenced by his understanding of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, he saw the Übermensch as the next step in

A champion of free speech and religious toleration, he was a controversial figure.

According to him, we are all caught up in a hopeless cycle of wanting things, getting them, and then wanting more things. It doesn't stop until we die. Whenever we seem to get what we want, we start wanting something else.

This is a version of a thought experiment originally created by the British philosopher Philippa Foot (1920–2010). She was interested in why saving the five people on the track was acceptable, but some other cases of sacrificing one to save many weren't.

So Ayer was neither a theist (who believes God exists) nor an atheist (who believes that God doesn't exist).

Unfortunately for Ayer's logical positivism, it provided the tools for its own destruction. The theory itself didn't seem to pass its own test. First, it's not obvious that the theory is true by definition. Secondly, there is no observation that would prove or disprove it. So by its own standards it is meaningless.

objects that look as if they have been designed almost certainly have been. Well then, think of nature: trees, flowers, mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, even amoebae. These things also look as if they have been designed.

Induction is very different from this. Induction usually involves arguing from a selection of observations to a general conclusion.

For Machiavelli, this end result was more important than how it was achieved: