Without the use of thought experiments, science and philosophy would be severely impoverished!
What is it?
Thought experiment; a set of simple circumstances are imagined and the philosopher/thinker examines what their responses would be or what actions and ideas would be appropriate given the circumstances or what would follow from the given experiment. They have the power to present surprising results that can profoundly change the way we view the world. Thought experiments are used in a variety of subjects: economics, history, mathematics, philosophy, and science, especially physics. The Prisoner’s dilemma and the trolley problem involving choosing groups of people to save from runaway trolleys are some of the world renowned thought experiments.
Structure of a thought experiment
Devising a thought experiment involves the conception of a possible situation against which we test our intuition and from which we....
