The Annus Mirabilis of 1986: Thought Experiments and Scientific Pluralism

Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 11 (1):222-240 (2021)
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Abstract

This paper is about the remarkable explosion in the literature on thought experiments since the 1980s. It enters uncharted territory. The year 1986 is of particular interest: James R. Brown presents his Platonism about thought experiments for the first time in Dubrovnik, and in Pittsburgh John D. Norton shares his empiricist approach with participants in what was probably the 20th century’s very first major conference on thought experiments. It was the time when philosophy of science had taken a pluralistic turn, and the paper develops the notion that this is a key factor in the outburst of discussions about thought experiments in the 1980s.

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Author's Profile

Yiftach J. H. Fehige
University of Toronto, St. George Campus

References found in this work

Representing and Intervening.Ian Hacking - 1983 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 35 (4):381-390.
Thought experiments.Roy A. Sorensen - 1992 - New York: Oxford University Press.
How Experiments End.Peter Galison - 1988 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 39 (3):411-414.
The Neglect of Experiment.Allan Franklin - 1988 - Philosophy of Science 55 (2):306-308.

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