What is a thought experiment in philosophy?

Philosophy. In philosophy, a thought experiment typically presents an imagined scenario with the intention of eliciting an intuitive or reasoned response about the way things are in the thought experiment.

What is an example of a thought experiment?

In the 17th century, Galileo used thought experiments to affirm his theories. One example is his thought experiment involving two balls (one heavy, one light) which are dropped from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Prior philosophers had theorized the heavy ball would land first.

What role do thought experiments play in philosophy?

We can go back even further and find in the work of the German philosopher-scientist Georg Lichtenberg (1742–1799) a tacit theory of “experiments with thoughts and ideas.” These experiments help to overcome habits of thought that can inhibit scientific progress, and make possible an enlightened philosophy (see …

What is the concept of philosophy of mind?

Philosophy of mind is the philosophical study of the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, and consciousness, and of the nature of their relationship with the physical body: the so-called mind-body problem.

What was the simple thought experiment?

But he did devise a simple thought experiment that told us something profound about gravity. Take two weights, one light, one heavy. If heavier objects fall faster than light ones, as Aristotle said, then the lighter weight will lag behind.

What was Galileo’s hypothesis in his thought experiment?

According to the story, Galileo discovered through this experiment that the objects fell with the same acceleration, proving his prediction true, while at the same time disproving Aristotle’s theory of gravity (which states that objects fall at speed proportional to their mass).

What type of thought is philosophy?

Philosophy is an activity of thought, a type of thinking. Philosophy is critical and comprehensive thought, the most critical and comprehensive manner of thinking which the human species has yet devised. This intellectual process includes both an analytic and synthetic mode of operation.

Who invented the thought experiment?

In this ambient the Danish physicist and philosopher Hans Christian Ørsted coined the term “thought experiment” first in 1811. His intention was to unite his adoration for Kantian metaphysics with traditional ideas about the hypothetical-deductive method of science.

What is a thought experiment called?

Gedankenexperiment, (German: “thought experiment”) term used by German-born physicist Albert Einstein to describe his unique approach of using conceptual rather than actual experiments in creating the theory of relativity.

What are the conclusion of Galileo experiment?

Response. Galileo dropped objects of different masses from the leaning tower of Pisa and found that the objects of different masses fall at the same rate. From this it can be concluded that the acceleration due to gravity for all objects is same and does not depend on mass of the object.

What is the importance of thought experiments in philosophy?

Significant is the overlap here with many other central philosophical topics, such as the nature of the imagination, the importance of understanding in contrast to explanation, the role of intuition in human cognition, and the relationship between fiction and truth. Moreover, thought experiments are interdisciplinary in two important respects.

Are thought experiments similar to science?

Besides, much of ethics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind is based on the results of thought experiments in a way that seems very similar to scientific thought experiments (though some might contest this), including Searle’s Chinese room, Putnam’s twin earth, and Jackson’s Mary the colour scientist.

What are the best books on thought in philosophy?

Hitchcock, Christopher, 2012, “Thought Experiments, Real Experiments, and the Expertise Objection”, European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 2: 205–218. Hopp, Walter, 2014, “Experiments in Thought”, Perspectives on Science, 22: 242–263. Horowitz, Tamara, 1998, “Philosophical Intuitions and Psychological Theory”, Ethics, 108: 367–385.

What is the best book on philosophy without thought experiments?

Witt-Hansen, Johannes, 1976, “H. C. Orsted, Kant and The Thought Experiment”, Danish Yearbook of Philosophy, 13: 48–56. Ylikoski, Petri, 2003, “Thought Experiments in Science Studies”, Philosophica, 72: 35–59. Young, Garry, 2013, Philosophical Psychopathology: Philosophy Without Thought Experiments, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.