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...

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

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)...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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

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...

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

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...

Theseus, also known as Theseus's Paradox, is a paradox and a common thought experiment about whether an object is the same object after having all of its...

Killing baby Hitler is a thought experiment in ethics and theoretical physics which poses the question of using time travel to assassinate an infant Adolf...

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...

The Boltzmann brain thought experiment suggests that it might be more likely for a brain to spontaneously form, complete with a memory of having existed...

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

sake of argument that the fetus has a right to life, Thomson uses thought experiments to argue that the right to life does not include, entail, or imply...

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

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...