A thought experiment is an imaginary scenario that is meant to elucidate or test an argument or theory. It is often an experiment that would be hard,...

A hallmark of Albert Einstein's career was his use of visualized thought experiments (German: Gedankenexperiment) as a fundamental tool for understanding...

tries to assess what would be the case if things had been different. Thought experiments often employ counterfactual thinking in order to illustrate theories...

Twin Earth is a thought experiment proposed by philosopher Hilary Putnam in his papers "Meaning and Reference" (1973) and "The Meaning of 'Meaning'" (1975)...

Blockhead is a theoretical computer system invented as part of a thought experiment by philosopher Ned Block, which appeared in a paper titled "Psychologism...

called it a "thought experiment" which presupposes some changes to the world, and probes their consequences. The purpose of the thought experiment is not to...

The trolley problem is a series of thought experiments in ethics, psychology, and artificial intelligence involving stylized ethical dilemmas of whether...

In thought experiments, philosophers and scientists occasionally imagine entities with special abilities as a way to pose thought experiment or highlight...

thinking through the implications of this single experiment. He also proposed (as a thought experiment) that if detectors were placed before each slit...

the uncertainty principle could be violated, suggesting ingenious thought experiments which should permit the accurate determination of incompatible variables...

Roko's basilisk is a thought experiment which states there could be an otherwise benevolent artificial superintelligence (AI) in the future that would...

Quantum suicide is a thought experiment in quantum mechanics and the philosophy of physics. Purportedly, it can falsify any interpretation of quantum mechanics...

quantum mechanics, Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment concerning quantum superposition. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical cat in a closed box...

philosophers began to look at anarchy in terms of the "state of nature", a thought experiment used to justify various forms of hierarchical government. By the late...

and all the students," most historians consider it to have been a thought experiment rather than a physical test. The 6th-century Byzantine Greek philosopher...

Newton's cannonball was a thought experiment Isaac Newton used to hypothesize that the force of gravity was universal, and it was the key force for planetary...

Maxwell's demon is a thought experiment that appears to disprove the second law of thermodynamics. It was proposed by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell...

conceptual analysis, reliance on common sense and intuitions, use of thought experiments, analysis of ordinary language, description of experience, and critical...

100 men versus a gorilla is a thought experiment concerning the winner of a hypothetical battle between one-hundred unarmed male humans and a silverback...

centerpiece of Searle's argument is a thought experiment known as the Chinese room. In the thought experiment, Searle imagines a person who does not...

of localization of function is the radio repairman thought experiment. In this thought experiment, a radio repairman opens up a radio and rips out a tube...

from physicists' own thought experiments and often shed light upon certain aspects of physics. So, for example, the thought experiment of a Brownian ratchet...

philosophy, the brain in a vat (BIV) is a scenario used in a variety of thought experiments intended to draw out certain features of human conceptions of knowledge...

a four-particle thought experiment in 1990, which David Mermin then simplified to use only three particles. In this thought experiment, Victor generates...

A philosophical zombie (or "p-zombie") is a being in a thought experiment in the philosophy of mind that is physically identical to a normal human being...

information, the Hayden–Preskill thought experiment (also known as the Hayden–Preskill protocol) is a thought experiment that investigates the black hole...

The "Big Book" is a thought experiment developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein about the nature of ethics and the verifiability of ethical knowledge. This account...

Wigner's friend is a thought experiment in theoretical quantum physics, first published by the Hungarian-American physicist Eugene Wigner in 1961, and...

In physics, Mermin's device or Mermin's machine is a thought experiment intended to illustrate the non-classical features of nature without making a direct...

Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment describes a family of thought experiments in quantum physics proposed by John Archibald Wheeler, with the most prominent...