Dialectica 58 (1):89–108 (2004)
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Abstract |
I begin with an explication of "thought experiment". I then clarify the role that intuitions play in thought experiments by addressing two important issues: (1) the informativeness of thought experiments and (2) the legitimacy of the method of thought experiments in philosophy and the natural sciences. I defend a naturalistic account of intuitions that provides a plausible explanation of the informativeness of thought experiments, which, in turn, allows thought experiments to be reconstructed as arguments. I also specify criteria for distinguishing bad "intuition pumps" from legitimate thought experiments. These criteria help us to avoid being seduced by the dangerous suggestive power of misleading intuitions.
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Keywords | Epistemology, Experiment, Intuitionism, Thought |
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DOI | 10.1111/j.1746-8361.2004.tb00293.x |
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References found in this work BETA
The Meaning of 'Meaning'.Hillary Putnam - 1975 - Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science 7:131-193.
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.John Locke - 1689 - London, England: Oxford University Press.
In Contradiction: A Study of the Transconsistent.Graham Priest - 1987 - Dordrecht, Netherland: Oxford University Press.
Utilitarianism: For and Against.J. J. C. Smart & Bernard Williams - 1973 - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Does the Method of Cases Rest on a Mistake?Moti Mizrahi - 2014 - Review of Philosophy and Psychology 5 (2):183-197.
The Missing-Desires Objection to Hybrid Theories of Well-Being.William Lauinger - 2013 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 51 (2):270-295.
A Moderate Defence of the Use of Thought Experiments in Applied Ethics.Adrian Walsh - 2011 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 14 (4):467-481.
Hunting the Pseudo-Philosopher.Roderick T. Long - 2021 - Journal of Ayn Rand Studies 21 (2):247-288.
Phenomenology and Thought Experiments. Thought Experiments as Anticipation Pumps.Harald A. Wiltsche - 2018 - In James Robert Brown, Yiftach J. H. Fehige & Michael T. Stuart (eds.), Routledge Companion to Thought Experiments. New York, NY, USA:
View all 13 citations / Add more citations
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