1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910462459703321

Titolo

Thought experiments in philosophy, science, and the arts / / edited by Melanie Frappier, Letitia Meynell, and James Robert Brown

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Routledge, , 2013

ISBN

1-283-60930-4

9786613921758

1-136-28600-4

0-203-11327-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (283 p.)

Collana

Routledge studies in the philosophy of science ; ; 11

Altri autori (Persone)

BrownJames Robert

FrappierMelanie

MeynellLetitia

Disciplina

128.3

128/.3

501

Soggetti

Thought experiments

Philosophy - Research

Research

Arts - Research

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgements; List of Figures; List of Contributors; Introduction; 1 Thought Experiment and the Exercise of Imagination in Science; 2 Veridical Idealizations; 3 What Do We See in a Thought Experiment?; 4 The Body, Thought Experiments, and Phenomenology; 5 Thought Experiments from a Kantian Point of View; 6 Can Thought Experiments Be Resolved by Experiment? The Case of Aristotle's Wheel; 7 Chasing the Light: Einstein's Most Famous Thought Experiment; 8 At the Limits of Possibility: Thought Experiments in Quantum Gravity

9 Craig Venter's New Life: The Realization of Some Thought Experiments in Biological Ontology10 Genealogical Thought



Experiments in Economics; 11 Political Thought Experiments from Plato to Rawls; 12 Thought Experiment, Definition, and Literary Fiction; 13 Can Philosophical Thought Experiments Be 'Screened'?; 14 Computational Modeling: Is This the End of Thought Experiments in Science?; Index

Sommario/riassunto

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.