Thought Experiments in Methodological and Historical Contexts

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During the last decades of the twentieth century highly imaginative thought experiments were introduced in philosophy: Searle’s Chinese room, variations on the Brain-in-a-vat, Thomson’s violinist. At the same time historians of philosophy and science claimed the title of thought experiment for almost any argument: Descartes’ evil genius, Buridan’s ass, Gyges’ ring. In the early 1990s a systematic debate began concerning the epistemological status of thought experiments. The essays in this volume are an outcome of this debate. They were guided by the idea that, since we cannot forge a strict definition of thought experiments, we should at least tame the contemporary wild usage of this notion by analysing thought experiments from various periods, and thus clarify how they work, what their limits are, and what their conceptualisation could be.

Medieval and Early Modern Science, 15
During the last decades of the twentieth century highly imaginative thought experiments were introduced in philosophy: Searle’s Chinese room, variations on the Brain-in-a-vat, Thomson’s violinist. At the same time historians of philosophy and science claimed the title of thought experiment for al...

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About the author

Katerina Ierodiakonou is Associate Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Athens. She has published extensively on ancient and Byzantine philosophy, especially in the areas of epistemology and logic. She currently works on a book about ancient theories of colour.

Sophie Roux (Ph.D., EHESS, 1996) is Associate Professor at the University of Grenoble and Junior Fellow at the Institut universitaire de France. She has published extensively on various aspects of philosophy and science in the early modern period.
Katerina Ierodiakonou is Associate Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Athens. She has published extensively on ancient and Byzantine philosophy, especially in the areas of epistemology and logic. She currently works on a book about ancient theories of colour. Sophie Roux (Ph.D....

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