Thought Experiments in Philosophy, Science, and the Arts

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0415885442
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (158 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments in Philosophy, Science, and the Arts by : Mélanie Frappier

Download or read book Thought Experiments in Philosophy, Science, and the Arts written by Mélanie Frappier and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Lucretius throwing a spear beyond the boundary of the universe to Einstein racing against a beam of light, thought experiments stand as a fascinating challenge to the necessity of data in the empirical sciences. Are these experiments, conducted uniquely in our imagination, simply rhetorical devices or communication tools or are they an essential part of scientific practice? This volume surveys the current state of the debate and explores new avenues of research into the epistemology of thought experiments.

Thought Experiments in Science, Philosophy, and the Arts

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136286004
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (362 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments in Science, Philosophy, and the Arts by : Melanie Frappier

Download or read book Thought Experiments in Science, Philosophy, and the Arts written by Melanie Frappier and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Lucretius throwing a spear beyond the boundary of the universe to Einstein racing against a beam of light, thought experiments stand as a fascinating challenge to the necessity of data in the empirical sciences. Are these experiments, conducted uniquely in our imagination, simply rhetorical devices or communication tools or are they an essential part of scientific practice? This volume surveys the current state of the debate and explores new avenues of research into the epistemology of thought experiments.

The Routledge Companion to Thought Experiments

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351705512
Total Pages : 709 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (517 download)

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Book Synopsis The Routledge Companion to Thought Experiments by : Michael T Stuart

Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Thought Experiments written by Michael T Stuart and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-20 with total page 709 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thought experiments are a means of imaginative reasoning that lie at the heart of philosophy, from the pre-Socratics to the modern era, and they also play central roles in a range of fields, from physics to politics. The Routledge Companion to Thought Experiments is an invaluable guide and reference source to this multifaceted subject. Comprising over 30 chapters by a team of international contributors, the Companion covers the following important areas: · the history of thought experiments, from antiquity to the trolley problem and quantum non-locality; · thought experiments in the humanities, arts, and sciences, including ethics, physics, theology, biology, mathematics, economics, and politics; · theories about the nature of thought experiments; · new discussions concerning the impact of experimental philosophy, cross-cultural comparison studies, metaphilosophy, computer simulations, idealization, dialectics, cognitive science, the artistic nature of thought experiments, and metaphysical issues. This broad ranging Companion goes backwards through history and sideways across disciplines. It also engages with philosophical perspectives from empiricism, rationalism, naturalism, skepticism, pluralism, contextualism, and neo-Kantianism to phenomenology. This volume will be valuable for anyone studying the methods of philosophy or any discipline that employs thought experiments, as well as anyone interested in the power and limits of the mind.

Thought Experiments

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Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0198023804
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments by : Roy A. Sorensen Associate Professor of Philosophy New York University

Download or read book Thought Experiments written by Roy A. Sorensen Associate Professor of Philosophy New York University and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1992-08-06 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sorensen presents a general theory of thought experiments: what they are, how they work, what are their virtues and vices. On Sorensen's view, philosophy differs from science in degree, but not in kind. For this reason, he claims, it is possible to understand philosophical thought experiments by concentrating on their resemblance to scientific relatives. Lessons learned about scientific experimentation carry over to thought experiment, and vice versa. Sorensen also assesses the hazards and pseudo-hazards of thought experiments. Although he grants that there are interesting ways in which the method leads us astray, he attacks most scepticism about thought experiments as arbitrary. They should be used, he says, as they generally are used--as part of a diversified portfolio of techniques. All of these devices are individually susceptible to abuse, fallacy, and error. Collectively, however, they provide a network of cross-checks that make for impressive reliability.

Thought Experiments in Science and Philosophy

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Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments in Science and Philosophy by : Tamara Horowitz

Download or read book Thought Experiments in Science and Philosophy written by Tamara Horowitz and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 1991 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite their centrality and importance to both science and philosophy, relatively little has been written about thought experiments. This volume brings together a series of extremely interesting studies of the history, mechanics, and applications of this important intellectual resource. A distinguished list of philosophers and scientists consider the role of thought experiments in their various disciplines, and argue that an examination of thought experimentation goes to the heart of both science and philosophy.

Thought Experiments in Methodological and Historical Contexts

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004201769
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments in Methodological and Historical Contexts by : Katerina Ierodiakonou

Download or read book Thought Experiments in Methodological and Historical Contexts written by Katerina Ierodiakonou and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-06-09 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By analysing thought experiments from various periods in the history of philosophy and science, the essays in this volume seek to clarify how thought experiments work, what their limits are, and what their conceptualisation could be.

Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319305263
Total Pages : 1180 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

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Book Synopsis Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science by : Lorenzo Magnani

Download or read book Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science written by Lorenzo Magnani and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-22 with total page 1180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook offers the first comprehensive reference guide to the interdisciplinary field of model-based reasoning. It highlights the role of models as mediators between theory and experimentation, and as educational devices, as well as their relevance in testing hypotheses and explanatory functions. The Springer Handbook merges philosophical, cognitive and epistemological perspectives on models with the more practical needs related to the application of this tool across various disciplines and practices. The result is a unique, reliable source of information that guides readers toward an understanding of different aspects of model-based science, such as the theoretical and cognitive nature of models, as well as their practical and logical aspects. The inferential role of models in hypothetical reasoning, abduction and creativity once they are constructed, adopted, and manipulated for different scientific and technological purposes is also discussed. Written by a group of internationally renowned experts in philosophy, the history of science, general epistemology, mathematics, cognitive and computer science, physics and life sciences, as well as engineering, architecture, and economics, this Handbook uses numerous diagrams, schemes and other visual representations to promote a better understanding of the concepts. This also makes it highly accessible to an audience of scholars and students with different scientific backgrounds. All in all, the Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science represents the definitive application-oriented reference guide to the interdisciplinary field of model-based reasoning.

Thought Experiments

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Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030810828
Total Pages : 130 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments by : Nenad Miscevic

Download or read book Thought Experiments written by Nenad Miscevic and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-29 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a readable introduction to the main aspects of thought experimenting in philosophy and science (together with related imaginative activities in mathematics and linguistics). It presents the main options in understanding thought experiments, from empiricism to Platonism, and discusses their strengths and weaknesses. However, it also provides some original perspectives on the topic. Firstly, it provides a new definition and analysis of thought experimenting that brings it closer to laboratory experimenting. Secondly, it develops the author’s earlier theory of “mental modelling”, proposed some decades ago by him, and some other researchers in the field as the crucial procedure in thought experimenting. The mental modelling approach links work with thought experimenting to cognitive science and to research on mental simulation which is a hot topic in present-day research. Thirdly, it proposes a principled way to respond to criticism of thought experimenting by “experimental philosophers” as they have been dominating the present-day debates. The response suggests a possible ameliorative, self-help project for thought experimenting. Finally, the book provides a way to systematize the history of important thought experiments in science and philosophy and thus connects, in an original way, the systematic investigation of experimenting to the historical work of famous thought experiments. It is of interest to scholars interested in history of ideas and philosophy of science.

Philosophical Imagination

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Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1527570711
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (275 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophical Imagination by : Boris Vezjak

Download or read book Philosophical Imagination written by Boris Vezjak and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2021-06-07 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thought experiments by ancient philosophers are often open to debate: in what sense did their reasoning really concern thought experimentation? For instance, in Plato’s Republic, Glaucon uses the myth of Gyges to demonstrate why people who practice justice do so unwillingly. A challenge, posed to Socrates and provided through some sort of thought experiment by imagining the effects of using the ring of invisibility, was intended to answer the question of human nature and our basis for the inclination towards justice or injustice. This collection expands the current, but rare, topic of whether it is possible to articulate a discussion about thought experiments and their arguments from the historical perspective of philosophy and science. It may sometimes seem that, in a loose sense, any philosophical reflection can already be interpreted as some form of thought experiment. Although the functions of it are very diverse and complex, and often closely linked to other cognitive tools, such as visualization, imagination or idealization, the contributions in this book provide new insights into how the concept of a thought experiment coincides with more modern perceptions. The purpose of the book is to show how philosophers, already in antiquity, began to use thought experiments and argumentation to convey theories in an accessible manner and how philosophical hypotheses, often being subjective and impossible to prove through empirical evidence, helped to promote scientific knowledge and discoveries. Different authors develop several lines of argumentation, claiming that philosophical thinking can be understood by comparing it to scientific experimenting, or vice versa: if empirical evidence is usually necessary for science, thought experiments may be used to develop a hypothesis or to prepare for experimentation. The analysis of historical examples of thought experiments might also contribute to a better understanding of philosophical endeavour in antiquity as a whole.

Thought Experiments, Science, and Theology

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004685308
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (46 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments, Science, and Theology by : Yiftach Fehige

Download or read book Thought Experiments, Science, and Theology written by Yiftach Fehige and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-10-30 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did Adam have a navel? Did Adam and Eve have sex? Is God merely a fictional character, like Superman? Without thought experiments like these, the field of science and religion would be severely impoverished. Thought experiments are exercises of the imagination. Like in many other disciplines, the imagination has not received the attention it deserves in theology. This book argues that the imagination must be taken seriously as an engine for progress. It offers a theology of the imagination that is consistent with, and goes beyond, existing discussions about pluralism at the intersection of science and religion.

The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135011095
Total Pages : 736 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science by : Martin Curd

Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science written by Martin Curd and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-07-24 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science is an indispensable reference source and guide to the major themes, debates, problems and topics in philosophy of science. It contains sixty-two specially commissioned entries by a leading team of international contributors. Organized into four parts it covers: historical and philosophical context debates concepts the individual sciences. The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science addresses all of the essential topics that students of philosophy of science need to know - from empiricism, explanation and experiment to causation, observation, prediction and more - and contains many helpful features including chapters on individual sciences (such as biology, chemistry, physics and psychology), further reading and cross-referencing at the end of each chapter. Expanded and revised throughout, this second edition includes new chapters on Conventionalism, Social Epistemology, Computer Simulation, Thought Experiments, Pseudoscience, Species and Taxonomy, and Cosmology.

Thought Experiments in Philosophy

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (31 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments in Philosophy by : Sören Häggqvist

Download or read book Thought Experiments in Philosophy written by Sören Häggqvist and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Laboratory of the Mind

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134865791
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis The Laboratory of the Mind by : James Robert Brown

Download or read book The Laboratory of the Mind written by James Robert Brown and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-09-26 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thought experiments are performed in the laboratory of the mind. Beyond this metaphor it is difficult to say just what these remarkable devices for investigating nature are or how they work. Though most scientists and philosophers would admit their great importance, there has been very little serious study of them. This volume is the first book-length investigation of thought experiments. Starting with Galileo's argument on falling bodies, Brown describes numerous examples of the most influential thought experiments from the history of science. Following this introduction to the subject, some substantial and provocative claims are made, the principle being that some thought experiments should be understood in the same way that platonists understand mathematical activity: as an intellectual grasp of an independently existing abstract realm. With its clarity of style and structure, The Laboratory of the Mind will find readers among all philosophers of science as well as scientists who have puzzled over how thought experiments work.

What If?

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351321862
Total Pages : 189 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (513 download)

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Book Synopsis What If? by : Nicholas Rescher

Download or read book What If? written by Nicholas Rescher and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thought experimentation has been a staple of philosophical methodology since classical antiquity, when Xenophanes of Colophon speculated that if horses had gods, they would be equine in form. Nicholas Rescher's What If? undertakes a systematic survey of the role and utility of thought experiments in philosophy. After surveying the historical issues, Rescher examines the principles involved, and explains the conditions under which thought experimentation can validly yield instructive results in philosophy. The reader gains understanding of the differences between scientific and philosophical experiments. What If? begins by examining the nature of thought experiments. It presents an overview of how thought experiments have figured in natural science and in historical studies, before moving on to examine how they function as an instrument of philosophical inquiry. After examining thought experiments from the pre-Socratics to the present day, Rescher turns from history to analysis, and examines the modes of reasoning involved in the use of speculative hypotheses in philosophical problem solving. He shows the limitations of speculative ontology, showing that thought experimentation can lead readily to paradox in a way that increasingly diminishes its usefulness. The book concludes by arguing and illustrating how and when it becomes pointless to push speculation, or thought experimentation beyond the limits of intelligibility and cogent sense. Among the principal features of Rescher's book is its elaborate analysis of the appropriate conditions for philosophical thought experimentation. Its cardinal thesis is that there indeed are limits to the appropriateness of this important methodological resource and that transgressing these limits destroys the prospect of drawing any valid lessons for the philosophical enterprise. What If? will be of interest to philosophers, students of philosophy, and theorists of logic and reasoning.

Thought Experiments between Nature and Society

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Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443873152
Total Pages : 490 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Thought Experiments between Nature and Society by : Bojan Borstner

Download or read book Thought Experiments between Nature and Society written by Bojan Borstner and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-23 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a prominent figure in analytic philosophy of the 20th and 21st centuries, Nenad Miščević has enriched, enhanced, and expanded many areas of the field. This volume, dedicated to him for his 65th birthday, follows the virtues he so much respects – conceptual analysis, rigorous use of logics, and clear definitions – and applies them to a very hot topic in philosophy, thought experiments. Present throughout the history of philosophy, thought experiments have become indispensable for the discipline and for analytic philosophy in particular. But questions can be asked, as to what exactly is a thought experiment, what it consists of, and, most importantly, if it is even useful for philosophy. Next to these conceptual questions, this collection tackles thought experiments that have tradition, some of them very long, like The Ring of Gyges, The Social Contract, and Descartes’ Evil Demon. Others, like Twin Earth, Gettier cases and Brain-in-a-Vat thought experiments, have prompted at least half-a-century-long trails. One cannot understand contemporary analytic philosophy without understanding these trails and traditions. Nenad’s closest friends and colleagues, from all over Europe, share their thoughts on this topic in this book, followed diligently by Nenad’s comments on their work.

Epistemic Uses of Imagination

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000399036
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (3 download)

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Book Synopsis Epistemic Uses of Imagination by : Christopher Badura

Download or read book Epistemic Uses of Imagination written by Christopher Badura and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-06-13 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores a topic that has recently become the subject of increased philosophical interest: how can imagination be put to epistemic use? Though imagination has long been invoked in contexts of modal knowledge, in recent years philosophers have begun to explore its capacity to play an epistemic role in a variety of other contexts as well. In this collection, the contributors address an assortment of issues relating to epistemic uses of imagination, and in particular, they take up the ways in which our imaginings must be constrained so as to justify beliefs and give rise to knowledge. These constraints are explored across several different contexts in which imagination is appealed to for justification, namely reasoning, modality and modal knowledge, thought experiments, and knowledge of self and others. Taken as a whole, the contributions in this volume break new ground in explicating when and how imagination can be epistemically useful. Epistemic Uses of Imagination will be of interest to scholars and advanced students who are working on imagination, as well as those working more broadly in epistemology, aesthetics, and philosophy of mind.

What If...

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1315509326
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (155 download)

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Book Synopsis What If... by : Peg Tittle

Download or read book What If... written by Peg Tittle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-23 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What If. . .Collected Thought Experiments in Philosophy is a brief collection of over 100 classic and contemporary “thought experiments,” each exploring an important philosophical argument. These thought experiments introduce students to the kind of disciplined thought required in philosophy, and awaken their intellectual curiosity. Featuring a clear and conversational writing style that doesn't dilute the ideas, the value of the book is in its simplicity–in both format and tone. Each thought experiment is accompanied by commentary from the author that explains its importance and provides thought-provoking questions, all encapsulated on two pages.