El Skaf, Rawad (2017) What notion of possibility should we use in assessing scientific thought experiments? Lato Sensu, revue de la Société de philosophie des sciences, 4 (1). pp. 19-30. ISSN 2295-8029
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Abstract
It is usually claimed that in order to assess a thought experiment (hereafter TE) we should assess the nomological possibility, or realizability in principle, of its scenario. This is undoubtedly true for many TEs, such as Bohr’s reply to Einstein’s photon box. Nevertheless, in some cases, such as Maxwell’s demon, this requirement should be relaxed. Many accounts of TEs fail in this regard. In particular, experimental and some mental model accounts are too strict, since they always require realizability in principle. This paper aims at analysing the notion of possibility at play in the scenarios of scientific TEs, and sheds some new light on their nature and function.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Thought experiments; nomological possibility; Maxwell’s demon; Einstein/Bohr photon box; evolution of thought experiments | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Thought Experiments | ||||||
| Depositing User: | Lato Sensu | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 29 Aug 2018 23:52 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 29 Aug 2018 23:52 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 14987 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Lato Sensu, revue de la Société de philosophie des sciences | ||||||
| Publisher: | Société de philosophie des sciences | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://sites.uclouvain.be/latosensu/index.php/lat... | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.20416/lsrsps.v4i1.543 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Thought Experiments | ||||||
| Date: | July 2017 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 19-30 | ||||||
| Volume: | 4 | ||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2295-8029 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/14987 |
Available Versions of this Item
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What notion of possibility should we use in assessing scientific thought experiments? (deposited 13 Jul 2017 13:38)
- What notion of possibility should we use in assessing scientific thought experiments? (deposited 29 Aug 2018 23:52) [Currently Displayed]
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