The Laboratory of the Mind: Thought Experiments in the Natural SciencesThought experiments are performed in the laboratory of the mind. Beyond this metaphor it is difficult to say just what these remarkable devices for investigating nature are or how they work. Though most scientists and philosophers would admit their great importance, there has been very little serious study of them. This volume is the first book-length investigation of thought experiments. |
Contents
1 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE LABORATORY OF THE MIND | 1 |
2 THE STRUCTURE OF THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS | 33 |
3 MATHEMATICAL THINKING | 49 |
4 SEEING THE LAWS OF NATURE | 75 |
5 EINSTEINS BRAND OF VERIFICATIONISM | 99 |
A PLATONIC INTERPRETATION | 127 |
AFTERWORD | 155 |
NOTES | 159 |
165 | |
175 | |
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The Laboratory of the Mind: Thought Experiments in the Natural Sciences James Robert Brown No preview available - 1991 |