Date of Award

8-12-2015

Degree Type

Closed Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Philosophy

First Advisor

Neil Van Leeuwen

Second Advisor

Andrea Scarantino

Third Advisor

Eddy Nahmias

Abstract

I defend a novel account of thought experiments in science. I motivate the need for my account by arguing for three desiderata that current views in the literature fail to satisfy. According to the view that I develop, scientific thought experiments enable us to entertain new thoughts about the natural world by temporarily disabling our naïve or folk empirical theories. This view is explanatory rich. It explains the phenomenology of thought experiments, provides an empirically informed account of the cognitive mechanisms underlying them, and makes sense of their epistemic value.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/7096397

Share

COinS