The Routledge Companion to Thought Experiments

Michael T. Stuart is a fellow of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics, UK. Yiftach Fehige is Associate Professor at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, Canada. James Robert Brown is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Contents






Thought Experiments: State of the Art – Michael T. Stuart, Yiftach Fehige and James Robert Brown
Part One: Selected History of Thought Experiments




The Triple Life of Ancient Thought Experiments – Katerina Ierodiakonou



Thought Experiments in Plato – Alexander Becker



Aristotle and Thought Experiments – Klaus Corcilius



Experimental Thoughts on Thought Experiments in Medieval Islam – Jon McGinnis



Galileo's Thought Experiments: Projective Participation and the Integration of Paradoxes – Paolo Palmieri



Thought Experiments in Newton and Leibniz – Richard T. W. Arthur



Kant, Hegel and Wittgenstein: Thought Experiments, Epistemology and Our Cognitive (In)Capacities – Kenneth R. Westphal
Part Two: Thought Experiments and their Fields




Thought Experiments in Political Philosophy – Nenad Miščević



Thought Experiments in Economics – Margaret Schabas



Theology and Thought Experiments – Yiftach Fehige



Thought Experiments in Ethics – George Brun



Happiest Thoughts: Great Thought Experiments of Modern Physics – Kent A. Peacock



Thought Experiments in Biology – Guillaume Schlaepfer and Marcel Weber



Thought Experiments in Mathematics – Irina Starikova and Marcus Giaquinto
Part Three: Contemporary Philosophical Approaches to Thought Experiments




The Argument View: Are Thought Experiments Mere Picturesque Arguments? – Elke Brendel



Platonism and the A Priori in Thought Experiments – Thomas Grundmann



Cognitive Science, Mental Modeling, and Thought Experiments – Nancy J. Nersessian



Kantian Accounts of Thought Experiments – Marco Buzzoni



Phenomenology and Thought Experiments: Thought Experiments as Anticipation Pumps – Harald A. Wiltsche
Part Four: Issues, Challenges and Interactions




Intuition and Its Critics – Stephen Stich and Kevin Tobia



Thought Experiments and Experimental Philosophy – Kirk Ludwig



Thought Experiments in Current Metaphilosophical Debates – Daniel Cohnitz and Sören Häggqvist



Historicism and Cross-Culture Comparison – James W. McAllister



A Dialectical Account of Thought Experiments – Jean-Yves Goffi and Sophie Roux



The Worst Thought Experiment – John D. Norton



Thought Experiments and Idealizations – Julian Reiss



Thought Experiments and Simulation Experiments: Exploring Hypothetical Worlds – Johannes Lenhard



Images and Imagination in Thought Experiments – Letitia Meynell



Art and Thought Experiments – David Davies



How Thought Experiments Increase Understanding – Michael T. Stuart



On the Identity of Thought Experiments: Thought Experiments Rethought – Alisa Bokulich and Mélanie Frappier