DOCSLIB.ORG

Natural Science and Supernatural Thought Experiments

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Natural Science and Supernatural Thought Experiments religions Article Natural Science and Supernatural Thought Experiments James Robert Brown Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5R 2M8, Canada; [email protected] Received: 9 May 2019; Accepted: 11 June 2019; Published: 18 June 2019 Abstract: Religious notions have long played a role in epistemology. Theological thought experiments, in particular, have been effective in a wide range of situations in the sciences. Some of these are merely picturesque, others have been heuristically important, and still others, as I will argue, have played a role that could be called essential. I will illustrate the difference between heuristic and essential with two examples. One of these stems from the Newton–Leibniz debate over the nature of space and time; the other is a thought experiment of my own constructed with the aim of making a case for a more liberal view of evidence in mathematics. Keywords: thought experiment; God; Newton–Leibniz; mathematical methods There is a long tradition of using religious notions in science. Einstein famously said that God does not play dice. Bohr countered with the remark that not only does God play dice but he also tosses them where they can’t be seen. These, respectively, are picturesque ways of rejecting or embracing indeterminism in physics. God is a convenient metaphor, but is in no way essential to making Einstein’s or Bohr’s respective points. This is a rather trivial use of God in science. We get a little more serious when we encounter phrases such as “a god’s eye point of view”. In this case there is the suggestion of the existence of a fact of the matter that an omniscient being would grasp, even if we humans were not capable. It can help advance a philosophical debate in one direction or another, and even atheists find the metaphor useful in debate. On the other hand, theological notions are sometimes invoked only to be mocked. The question “How many angles can dance on the head of a pin?” is taken to be the height of folly. The targets of derision were medieval scholastics, even though it turns out that as a matter of historical fact they did not entertain the issue. Thought experiments involving God often aim at telling us something new about God. Other thought experiments involving God have a different aim: They use the idea of God to tell us something new about the world. What follows is an instance (actually two instances), of the latter. In other words, God is not the end but rather is a means to the end. I am going to discuss two thought experiments where God plays an important or even crucial function. The first of these is the thought experiment (or cluster of thought experiments) that played a role in the Newton–Leibniz debate on the nature of space and time. The second is a thought experiment of my own concerning the nature of legitimate mathematical methodology. Though both are effective in achieving their goals, they turn out to function in interestingly different ways. In his Principia, Isaac Newton claimed “Absolute, true, and mathematical time, in and of itself and of its own nature, without reference to anything external, flows uniformly and by another name is called duration. Relative, apparent, and common time is any sensible and external measure (precise or imprecise) of duration by means of motion; such a measure—for example, an hour, a day, a month, a year—is commonly used instead of true time.” (Newton 1999, p. 408). Religions 2019, 10, 389; doi:10.3390/rel10060389 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2019, 10, 389 2 of 9 Religions 2019, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 9 The claim about the nature of time was followed by a similar claim about the nature of space: “Absolute“Absolute space, space, of itsof ownits natureown nature without without reference re toference anything to external,anything always external, remains always homogeneous remains andhomogeneous immovable. and Relative immovable. space Relative is any movable space is any measure movable or dimension measure or of dimens this absoluteion of this space; absolute such aspace; measure such or a dimensionmeasure or isdimension determined is determined by our senses by fromour senses the situation from the of situation the space of with the space respect with to bodiesrespect and to bodies is popularly and is usedpopularly for immovable used for immovable space, as in space, the case as ofin spacethe case under of space the earth under or inthe the earth air or inin thethe heavens,air or in wherethe heavens, the dimension where the is determineddimension is from determined the situation from of the the situation space with of respectthe space to thewith earth.” respect (Newton to the earth. 1999”, p.(Newton 408f). 1999, p. 408f). What Newton called “absolute space and time” is now more adequately called “substantivalism”, meaning that time and space are things in their own right, not dependent on anything else. The picture Newton paintedpainted is is that that space space and and time time exist exist independently independently from everythingfrom everything else (except else God,(except perhaps). God, Itperhaps). has nothing It has to nothing do with to the do bodies with the that bodies might that or mightmight notor might be in spacenot be or in thespace events or the that events might that or might notor might happen not in happen time; nor in hastime; it nor anything has it toan doything with to how do wewith measure how we and measure observe and space observe and time,space and and so time, on. Theyand so are, on. according They are, to according Newton, “God’sto Newton, sensorium”, “God’s sensorium”, which is something which is of something a mystery. Newtonof a mystery. thought Newton of creation thought as God of placing creation matter as God at particular placing locationsmatter at in particular an otherwise locations empty spacein an andotherwise this act empty of creation space happenedand this act at of a particularcreation happened time. at a particular time. Newton oofferedffered his his famous famous bucket bucket thought thought experiment experiment as the as justification the justification for his belieffor his in belief absolute in space.absolute We space. cannot We detect cannot our detect location our inlocation absolute in absolute space, nor space, can wenor detectcan we our detect absolute our absolute velocity throughvelocity through space. Moreover, space. Moreover, we cannot we detectcannot our detect location our location in absolute in absolute time. We time. can, We however, can, however, detect absolutedetect absolute accelerations. accelerations. It is, in It fact, is, in an fact, everyday an everyday experience experience which youwhich can you feel can when feel driving when arounddriving aaround corner. a corner. This cannot This cannot be reduced be reduced to relative to relative acceleration. acceleration. Imagine Imagine two two cars cars facing facingin in oppositeopposite directions, initiallyinitially stationarystationary withwith respectrespect toto oneone another.another. TheyThey might start to move apart, gaining in relativerelative velocity;velocity; they are accelerating relative to one another. So far the situation situation seems seems symmetrical. symmetrical. However, thethe passengerspassengers insideinside couldcould noticenotice aa didifffference.erence. In one car the passengers feel thrown back inin theirtheir seats,seats, whilewhile thethe othersothers feelfeel nono suchsuch force.force. TheThe formerformer isis thethe oneone thatthat isis undergoingundergoing genuinegenuine absolute acceleration. The bucketbucket experimentexperiment (Figure (Figure1) 1) is designedis designed to showto show that that absolute absolute acceleration acceleration is detectable. is detectable. We haveWe have three three cases cases to consider to consider in this in experiment this experiment (which (which could becould either bea either real experiment a real experiment or a thought or a experiment).thought experiment). In stage IIn the stage bucket I the and bucket the water and the are atwa restter withare at respect rest with to onerespect another. to one In another. stage II the In bucketstage II is the turning bucket relative is turning to the relative water. to In the stage water. III the In bucket stage andIII the water bucket are againand water at rest are with again respect at rest to onewith another. respect to We one need another. to explain We need the di tofference explain between the difference stage I between where the stage surface I where of the the water surface is flat of andthe water stage IIIis flat where and the stage surface III where is concave. the surface Notice is co thatncave. we cannot Notice do that it bywe appealcannot todo relative it by appeal motion, to sincerelative there motion, is no relativesince there motion is no of relative water tomotion bucket of in water either to stage bucket I or in III. either stage I or III. Figure 1. Newton’s bucket thought experiment. Figure 1. Newton’s bucket thought experiment. Newton’s answer is this: In stage III (but not in I) the water and bucket are in absolute motion; they Newton’s answer is this: In stage III (but not in I) the water and bucket are in absolute motion; are rotating in absolute space. The crucial claim that Newton makes is that the best explanation—perhaps they are rotating in absolute space. The crucial claim that Newton makes is that the best explanation— the only explanation—is absolute space. The water-bucket system is rotating with respect to space perhaps the only explanation—is absolute space. The water-bucket system is rotating with respect to itself. Therefore, space exists (as a thing in its own right). space itself. Therefore, space exists (as a thing in its own right).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 Hilary Putnam, Reason, Truth and History, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979). Henceforth 'RTH'. the Position Th
    [The Journal of Philosophical Research XVII (1992): 313-345] Brains in a Vat, Subjectivity, and the Causal Theory of Reference Kirk Ludwig Department of Philosophy University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611-8545 1. Introduction In the first chapter of Reason, Truth and History,1 Putnam argued that it is not epistemically possible that we are brains in a vat (of a certain sort). If his argument is correct, and can be extended in certain ways, then it seems that we can lay to rest the traditional skeptical worry that most or all of our beliefs about the external world are false. Putnam’s argument has two parts. The first is an argument for a theory of reference2 according to which we cannot refer to an object or a type of object unless we have had a certain sort of causal interaction with it. The second part argues from this theory to the conclusion that we can know that we are not brains in a vat. In this paper I will argue that Putnam’s argument to show that we cannot be brains in a vat is unsuccessful. However, the flaw is not in the argument from the theory of reference to the conclusion 1 Hilary Putnam, Reason, Truth and History, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979). Henceforth ‘RTH’. The position that Putnam advances in this first chapter is one that in later chapters of RTH he abandons in favor of the position that he calls ‘internal realism’. He represents the arguments he gives in chapter 1 as a problem posed for the ‘external realist’, who assumes the possibility of a God’s eye point of view.
    [Show full text]
  • Meaning Ain't in the Head 1. Hilary Putnam (1926-2016)
    Louis deRosset { Spring 2019 Putnam: Meaning Ain't in the Head 1. Hilary Putnam (1926-2016): Philosopher, logician, mathematician. Putnam is famous for important and seminal work in just about every sub- field in philosophy. 2. Putnam's Target: . two unchallenged assumptions: (1) That knowing the meaning of a term is just a matter of being in a certain psychological state. (2) That the meaning of a term determines its extension. (700) DEFINITION: The extension of a term is its nominatum: • for names, definite descriptions: a certain person, place, or thing. EX.: `Obama', `The president of the U.S.' • for predicates: the set of things of which the predicate is true. EX.: `is a student', `is a person'. Putnam's Target is the Fregean theory of intentionality: The Fregean Triangle (yet again!): Sense 4< expresses determines #+ expression Nominatum Putnam (following Carnap) uses different terminology for the same ideas: Frege says... Putnam says... sense meaning, intension nominatum extension The Fregean Triangle (Putnam's terms): meaning 3; expresses determines expression extension"* Putnam adds the speaker to the picture [BLACKBOARD: draw the speaker with a speech balloon around the expression]. Louis deRosset { Spring 2019 In this situation, Putnam (following Frege), says that the speaker grasps the sense. [BLACKBOARD: draw the grasping relation between the speaker and the sense]. Putnam's target: (a) grasping a meaning is a psychological state; and (b) meaning determines extension, (i.e. if A and B grasp the same meaning, their expressions have the same extension.) 3. Putnam's Thesis: I shall argue that these two assumptions are not jointly sat- isfied by any notion, let alone any notion of meaning.
    [Show full text]
  • A Historical Survey of Sir Karl Popper's Contribution to Quantum
    A Historical Survey of Sir Karl Popper’s Contribution to Quantum Mechanics William M. Shields Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. E-mail: [email protected] Editors: Ion C. Baianu, Christoph Lehner, Debajyoti Gangopadhyay & Danko Georgiev Article history: Submitted on May 28, 2012; Accepted on July 28, 2012; Published on November 15, 2012. ir Karl Popper (1902–1994), though not 1 Popper in the physics journals trained as a physicist and embarrassed early Sin his career by a physics error pointed out by Sir Karl Popper, by any measure one of the preeminent Einstein and Bohr, ultimately made substantial con- philosophers of the twentieth century, died in 1994 at the tributions to the interpretation of quantum mechan- age of 92. He was productive to the end, publishing in ics. As was often the case, Popper initially formu- the year of his death a criticism of Kuhn’s incommensu- lated his position by criticizing the views of others – rability of paradigms [1]. That debate continues over his in this case Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Un- many and profound philosophical ideas and opinions is derlying Popper’s criticism was his belief that, first, hardly surprising, almost two decades after his death. The the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechan- proliferation of book-length biographies and scholarly ics abandoned scientific realism and second, the as- philosophical articles is testimony to Popper’s standing as sertion that quantum theory was complete (an asser- a philosopher [2–5]. Major conferences are also regularly tion rejected by Einstein among others) amounted held on the thought of Karl Popper [6, 7].
    [Show full text]
  • Hilary Putnam: Mind, Meaning and Reality
    Hilary Putnam: On Mind, Meaning and Reality Interview by Josh Harlan HRP: What are the ultimate goals of the philosophy of mind? What distinguishes the philosophy of mind from such fields as neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychology? Putnam: Like all branches of philosophy, philosophy of mind is the dis- cussion of a loose cluster of problems, to which problems get added (and sometimes subtracted) in the course of time. To make things more com- plicated, the notion of the "mind" is itself one which has changed a great deal through the millenia. Aristotle, for example, has no notion which exactly corresponds to our notion of "mind". The psyche, or soul, in Aristotle's philosophy is not the same as our "mind" because its functions include such "non-mental" functions as digestion and reproduction. (This is so because the "sou1"'is simply the form of the organized living body in Aristotle's philosophy. Is this obviously a worse notion than our present- day notion of "mind"?) And the nous, or reason, in Aristotle's philosophy, excludes many functions which we regard as mental (some of which are taken over by the thumos, the integrative center which Aristotle locates in the heart). Even in my lifetime I have seen two very different ways of conceiving the mind: one, which descended from British empiricism, conceived of the mental as primarily composed of sensations. "Are sensations (or qualia, as philosophers sometimes say) identical with brain processes?" was the "mind-body problem" for this tradition. (The mind conceived of as a "bundle of sensations" might be called "the English mind".) The other way conceived of the mind as primarily characterized by reason and inten- tionality - by the ability to judge, and to refer.
    [Show full text]
  • MURPHY, Alice. Thought Experiments and the Scientific Imagination. Phd
    i Thought Experiments and the Scientific Imagination Alice Murphy Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science September 2020 ii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Alice Murphy to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2020 The University of Leeds and Alice Murphy iii Acknowledgements Firstly, a huge thank you to my supervisors, Steven French and Aaron Meskin. It’s hard to do justice to the support and insights that you have each provided over the past four years. Steven has been endlessly generous, and has an open minded approach to research that is a constant source of inspiration. Aaron’s meticulous attention to detail has made me a more careful writer and thinker. You’ve both enabled me to form sketchy ideas into arguments, spurred me on when I’ve been lacking in confidence, and have made the whole process energising and, dare I say it, fun. At the risk of causing too high of expectations of the thesis that follows, I also want to say thank you to Milena Ivanova, Andrea Blomqvist, Mike Stuart, Max Jones, Fiora Salis, Karim Thébault and Adrian Currie for incredibly valuable conversations and feedback.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophical Imagination
    Philosophical Imagination Philosophical Imagination: Thought Experiments and Arguments in Antiquity Edited by Boris Vezjak Philosophical Imagination: Thought Experiments and Arguments in Antiquity Edited by Boris Vezjak This book first published 2021 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2021 by Boris Vezjak and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-6975-6 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-6975-1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ...................................................................................................... vii List of Contributors ................................................................................... xi Part 1: Thought Experiments from Plato to Hume Chapter One ................................................................................................ 3 The Anatomy of Three Thought Experiments in Plato’s Republic, Apology, and in Alcibiades Minor Andre M. Archie Chapter Two ............................................................................................. 25 From Kallipolis to Utopia: The Metamorphoses of Ideal Theory Nenad Miščević Chapter Three ..........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Fiction As Thought Experiment
    Fiction as Thought Experiment Catherine Z. Elgin Harvard University Although ªctions and thought experiments are not physical realizations of the phenomena they pertain to, like real experiments, they exemplify properties or patterns that they share with those phenomena. They thereby afford epistemic access to properties and patterns that are realized in fact. The Problem Jonathan Bennett (1974) maintains that Huckleberry Finn’s deliberations about whether to return Jim to slavery afford insight into the tension be- tween sympathy and moral judgment; Miranda Fricker (2007) argues that the trial scene in To Kill a Mockingbird affords insight into the nature of testimonial injustice. Neither claims merely that the works prompt an at- tentive reader to think something new or to change her mind. Rather, they consider the reader cognitively better off for her encounters with the novels. Nor is her cognitive improvement restricted to acquiring new justiªed true beliefs about the works themselves. What the reader gleans is supposed to enhance her knowledge or understanding of the extra- literary world. Fricker and Bennett are probably right. But their being right raises an epistemological problem. How can a work of ªction which is not and is known not to be true provide any measure of epistemic access to the way things actually are? Is it really possible to ªnd out about the world by making things up? One attractive answer is that works of ªction are thought experiments. Like literary ªctions, thought experiments neither are nor purport to be physically realized. Nevertheless, they evidently enhance understanding of the phenomena they pertain to.
    [Show full text]
  • Nozick (1974, 1989)
    The Experience Machine by Robert Nozick (1974, 1989) Excerpt from Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) What matters other than how people's experiences feel "from the inside"? Suppose there were an experience machine that would Give you any experience that you desired. Superduper neuropsycholoGists could stimulate your brain so that you would think and feel you were writinG a Great novel, or makinG a friend, or readinG an interestinG book. All the time you would be floatinG in a tank, with electrodes attached to your brain. Should you pluG into this machine for life, preproGramminG your life's experiences? If you are worried about missinG out on desirable experiences, we can suppose that business enterprises have researched thorouGhly the lives of many others. You can pick and choose from their large library or smorgasbord of such experiences, selectinG your life's experiences for, say, the next two years. After two years have passed, you will have ten minutes or ten hours out of the tank, to select the experiences of your next two years. Of course, while in the tank you won't know that you're there; you'll think it's all actually happeninG. Others can also pluG in to have the experiences they want, so there's no need to stay unpluGGed to serve them. (IGnore problems such as who will service the machines if everyone pluGs in.) Would you pluG in? What else can matter to us, other than how our lives feel from the inside? Nor should you refrain because of the few moments of distress between the moment you've decided and the moment you're pluGGed.
    [Show full text]
  • Hume's Missing Shade of Blue Reexamined
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Student Theses Baruch College 1-1-2014 Hume's Missing Shade of Blue reexamined Vyacheslav Faylayev Baruch College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/bb_etds/18 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Hume’s Missing Shade of Blue Reexamined By Vyacheslav Faylayev Submitted to the Committee of Undergraduate Honors at Baruch College of the City University of New York on May 5th, 2014 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with Honors. ___________________________ Professor Thomas Teufel Faculty Supervisor ___________________________ ___________________________ Professor Douglas Lackey Professor Charlotte Brooks Page | 1 HUME’S MISSING SHADE OF BLUE REEXAMINED By Vyacheslav Faylayev Table of Contents I. Introduction……………………………………………………….........................2 II. Breaking Down the Missing Shade of Blue……………………………………....6 III. The Missing Shade of Blue: Exception, Not a Threat…………………………....9 IV. Hume’s Copy Principle & Causality………………………………………...…..15 V. Hume’s Self-Criticism………………………………………………...……...…17 VI. Possible Arguments against Hume’s Missing Shade of Blue Defused……….....20 VII. Conclusion………………………………………………...………………….…31 VIII. References………………………………………………………………………34 Page | 2 Hume’s Missing Shade of Blue Reexamined Abstract David Hume, known as a strict empiricist, posits that all perceptions are divided into impressions and ideas. Except for a lower degree of vivacity, ideas directly resemble their corresponding impressions. This is the core of Hume’s ‘copy principle,’ which claims that all ideas are simply copies of their corresponding more lively impressions.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes on Leibniz Thought Experiment
    Notes on Leibniz thought experiment Markos Maniatis Departamento de Ciencias B´asicas, Universidad del B´ıo-B´ıo Avda. Andr´es Bello s/n, Casilla 447 Chill´an, Chile email: [email protected] Leibniz thought experiment of perception, sensing, and thinking is reconsidered. We try to understand Leibniz picture in view of our knowledge of basic neuroscience. In particular we can see how the emergence of consciousness could in principle be understood. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Monadology (1714), §17 [1]: “Besides, it must be admitted that perception, and anything that depends on it, cannot be explained in terms of mechanistic causation – that is, in terms of shapes and motions. Let us pretend that there was a machine, which was constructed in such a way as to give rise to thinking, sensing, and having perceptions. You could imagine it expanded in size (while retaining the same proportions), so that you could go inside it, like going into a mill. On this assumption, your tour inside it would show you the working parts pushing each other, but never anything which would explain a perception. So perception is to be sought, not in compounds (or machines), but in simple substances. Furthermore, there is nothing to be arXiv:1309.0846v1 [q-bio.NC] 3 Sep 2013 found in simple substances, apart from perceptions and their changes. Again, all the internal actions of simple substances can consist in nothing other than perceptions and their changes.” We would like to reconsider Leibniz thought experiment, presented about three centuries ago. Today we know, that at a tour inside the elementary working parts are the neurons, which push each other by means of electrical activity.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cognitive Value of Fiction: Two Models
    teorema Vol. XXXV/3, 2016, pp. 149-164 ISSN: 0210-1602 [BIBLID 0210-1602 (2016) 35:3; pp. 149-164] The Cognitive Value of Fiction: Two Models Frank Boardman RESUMEN Un buen número de controversias actuales incluyen cuestiones sobre el valor cog- nitivo de la ficción. En cada uno de esos contextos encontramos un cierto escepticismo sobre lo que podría llamarse la “tesis fuerte”: que podemos alcanzar determinado cono- cimiento proposicional no-trivial a partir de la ficción en virtud del contenido narrativo de esta. Presento dos maneras en las que las ficciones pueden proporcionarnos (y a menudo lo proporcionan de forma efectiva) conocimiento proposicional precisamente de ese modo. Defiendo que esos modelos ayudar a dar una respuesta a gran parte del escepticismo que se ha mencionado. Concluyo considerando algunas implicaciones de todo el proyecto y algunas objeciones al mismo. PALABRAS CLAVE: valor cognitivo de la ficción, aprender de la ficción, Aristóteles. ABSTRACT A number of current controversies involve questions about the cognitive value of fiction. In each of these contexts, we find skepticism about what might be called the “strong thesis,” that we can non-trivially gain determinate propositional knowledge from fictions by virtue of their narrative contents. I offer two ways in which fictions can (and often do) provide us with propositional knowledge in just this way. I make the case that these models help answer much of the skepticism mentioned above. I conclude by considering a number of implications of and objections to the entire project. KEYWORDS: Cognitive Value of Fiction, Learning from Fiction, Aristotle. A number of recent and current controversies involve questions about the cognitive value of fiction.
    [Show full text]
  • Article Evaluating the Cognitive Success of Thought Experiments
    Evaluating the Cognitive Success of Thought Experiments Damián Islas Mondragón Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science, 3 (2017) 68-76 ISSN 2526-2270 www.historiographyofscience.org © The Author 2017 – This is an open access article Article Evaluating the Cognitive Success of Thought Experiments Damián Islas Mondragón1 Abstract: Thought experiments are widely used in natural science research. Nonetheless, their reliabil- ity to produce cognitive results has been a disputable matter. This study is conducted to pre- sent some rules of confirmation for evaluating the cognitive outcome of thought experi- ments. I begin given an example of a “paradigmatic” thought experiment from Galileo Galilei: the falling bodies. Afterwards, I briefly surveying two different accounts of thought experi- ments: James R. Brown’s rationalism and John D. Norton’s empiricism. Then, I discuss their positions and I show that none of them may tip the balance towards the rationalism or em- piricism they try to defend. Finally, I put forward that the notion of confirmation, connected to the notion of increasing plausibility, can be used to develop some confirmation rules to compare the explanatory power of thought experiments in competition, regardless of their 68 rational or empirical nature in which the discussion of this type of experiment has been en- gaged in recent years. Keywords: Thought Experiments; Back Ground knowledge; Confirmation; Plausibility; Success Received: 05 August 2017. Reviewed 31 October 2017. Accepted: 30 November 2017. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24117/2526-2270.2017.i3.06 _____________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Thought experiments are “unexecuted experiments” devised to support or refute a scientific theory – or part of it.
    [Show full text]