Thought Experiment, Definition and Literary Fiction
Abstract
I introduce a middle route between giving a sharp definition and examples to explain what a thought experiment is. It comprises an account of the concept thought experiment that we can rightly apply to different extents. Three explanatory virtues of this account include (i) that we can use it to explain why one thing may seem to be less of a thought experiment than another, (ii) that it provides for a fine-grained explanation of the relation between literary fiction and thought experiment and (iii) that we can use it to explain conflicting intuitions about whether certain literary fictions are thought experiments.