Questions tagged [thought-experiment]
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Probabilities and Certainties on the Monkey Axis: Yet more about those monkey typists
I was reading with some interest the answers and comments to this question about that familiar, weird and somewhat inhumane infinite-monkey experiment which, somehow, is still generating fresh and ...
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Does the halfer position in the Sleeping Beauty problem make for an irrational gambler?
It's my understanding that the Sleeping Beauty problem doesn't have a consensus answer, with major camps along the lines of "halfers," "thirders," and "the-question-statement-...
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Are there any refutations to the Generic subjective continuity theory?
The Generic subjective continuity theory is a horrifying one, considering it would entail that we shall experience every concious experience including the worst of tortures ie, burning alive, etc. Are ...
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How would Heidegger criticize Descartes' melting candle analogy?
I've recently finished reading Being and Time and have attempted to supplement my understanding with different takes on the piece. One interesting angle that I've mused upon myself but haven't seen in ...
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If we encounter what appears to be an advanced extraterrestrial technological device, would the claim that it was designed be falsifiable?
Suppose we go to Mars and come across what appears to be a highly advanced technological device of extraterrestrial origin. Let's call this object X. Would the claim "X was designed" be ...
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Is there a term/name of thought experiment about what constitutes the act of "giving something away"?
This was inspired by the old "strange interview question" of "What would you do if you were given an elephant, and you could not give it away?"
What constitutes "Giving ...
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To which philosophical direction, theory or philosopher does this panel from comic named "the allegory of the trolley problem paradox" refer to?
I figured out the rest of panels, but stuck on this one. I think it's related to philosophy of language, but I can't pin down more specific answer for this one.
As far as I understand it's about a ...
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Testing of complex systems
I wasn't sure were to post this question, seems ill fitted for most content I see.
In software development there is a procedure for testing software that includes unit testing, integration testing, ...
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Is human thought itself a fundamental force?
To begin with, as far as I understand, there are four well accepted forces of nature:
Gravity
Weak interaction
Strong interaction
Electromagnetism
Now, these forces are all characterized by changing ...
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Intersection of the Gettier problem and knowing-what or knowing-how
From what I can tell, it seems like the Gettier problem comes down to Smith not knowing that the man who has ten coins in his pocket is going to get the job. What about Smith knowing what the ...
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Is the existence or causing of suffering inherently bad?
Looked at rationally, suffering is existing neurons evaluating certain stimuli to be negative. How does one argue that causing suffering or the existence of suffering is inherently bad?
Let's do a ...
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The Philosophy of War and Value Judgement [closed]
With the war in Ukraine, I think a field has been opened up for studying the philosophy of war deeper. First of all, I would like to state that I oppose the war in Ukraine and Russian government's ...
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Can you disprove Last Thursdayism for the time since you were born?
Let's take this week for example. I know that I exist now on Monday, and that this coming Thursday won't begin all existence. Therefore Last Thursdayism for the future is disproved. This means that ...
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Do evil actions stem from good intentions? [closed]
Good actions and bad actions exist. But could it be possible that all bad and evil actions could stem from some sort of good thing making it at its root not evil. Like say I want to do something to ...
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Is an action that causes a paradox impossible?
Suppose you went back in time and tried to murder your 2 year old self. Since murdering yourself in the past erases you, then you can no longer kill anything because you don't exist. Therefore, no ...
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Are there any points that can't be made without thought experiments?
Are all thought experiments simply another way to assert certain claims and examples or does it have inherent epistemological value?
Edit: is there any point that can't be made without thought ...
user46880
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Examples for real-world instances of trolley cases [closed]
Trolley cases are scenarios that play an important role in a specific kind of thought experiment, famously published by Philippa Foot. Here's just one of the many formulations:
Consider a pair of ...
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A thought experiment for free-will, individuality and one-way functions?
Here is a thought experiment I have been thinking about concerning Free Will, Individuality and One-Way functions:
Assumptions:
Each conscious being in a world has material body which distincts it ...
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Experiencing and sensing time dilation when a person dies and the logic of
It is well known that when a person goes to sleep, there are instances when we do not experience time which has phenomenological implications. There is a temporal discontinuity. It is also known that ...
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Mechanics of Thought Experiment
How do thought experiments work? We constantly see usage of thought experiments to argue some statements about 'real' world. I am interested in the operating mechanics of such experiments, the ...
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What is a "demon"?
The term demon appears in several thought experiments: Maxwell's demon, Laplace's demon, Descartes' demon, maybe others.
What is this term supposed to mean?
For example, I understand the term oracle: ...
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Can biological evolution comsummate?
Can biological evolution comsummate?
In biological evolution, living organisms continues to change. However, is there a point wherein evolution stops due to an organism not needing change anymore? ...
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Is living with constant mindfulness necessarily good? or does it limit one's potential? [closed]
Isn't mindfulness is difficult for a thinker which usually philosophers are?
Mindfulness by definition is bringing awareness to present moment non judgmentally and I agree it may relax you. I believe ...
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Can somebody explain the "thought experiment" about the tree falling in the forest?
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Of course it does, assuming that there is no freak occurrence like the wind blowing in just the right direction for ...
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Can the scientific method ever disprove Magic and Miracles (Simulated)?
I have seen the idea behind this question before but I don’t think it was well formulated. Here is my attempt to ponder on reality based on Plato's “Myth of the Cave” and show how valid it still is.
...
user22051
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Does Shoemaker's thought experiment about time really work?
Shoemaker gives us an interesting thought experiment about time:
Assume that an entire universe is divided into three parts -- A, B,
and C. Every 3 years, everything in A freezes for a year. ...
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Thought experiment: The distorted brain in a vat
[This is the second version of another question: How does consciousness depend on spatiality?]
I admit that the technical details of the following thought experiment sound completely weird but that's ...
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Why does Searle's room receive three batches of Chinese characters and two English instruction manuals as input?
Searle's Chinese room receives input in the form of a batch of chinese characters, then twice after receives a batch of Chinese. The second batch of Chinese comes with English instructions for "...
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If you are predictable do you have free will?
Let there be a person that acted in some way. Also there is another person who had predicted that behaviour of first person.
Does the first person has free will? Is it just possible to do something ...
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Why should we even think about determinism?
So I've browsed through some questions here but none of them really fits my thought process: If you assume that determinism is not the case, your actions will therefore be the right decision. If ...
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Can time exist without change?
Imagine an event of one second in length, like two hands clapping. Suppose that another interval of time elapses between the clap, a period in which nothing happens in the whole universe (or in all ...
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Mach and Norton thought experiments in science
Both Mach and Norton hold empiricist views on the notions of the role of thought experiments.
Could someone please explain the difference? Have done some reading but it’s not totally clear.
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Can a single thought experiment have multiple outcomes?
Is it possible for a particular thought experiment to have multiple outcomes based on the view point of the person conducting said experiment? Or can a thought experiment never yield multiple ...
user36421
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Thought experiments and empiricism
The debate between Norton and Brown regarding whether thought experiments transcend empiricism is interesting with Norton suggesting that thought experiments do not transcend empiricism.
If one had ...
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If time is discrete, does moving means teleporting?
Please follow this thought experiment:
1) A ball moves one centimeter in one unit of time.
2) A ball disappears. Then, after a unit of time, it reappears one centimeter far away.
By now we don't ...
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Would we choose to become psychopaths if we could?
Deep Brain Stimulation to stop major depression is a reality in its infancy hence let’s make a thought experiment:
Presume a much more advanced version was created and everybody
could inhibit any ...
user22051
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Is it okay to have multiple aims? [closed]
From childhood we were told to have only one aim. All the stories we were told were around this concept (for example, Arjuna and Fish Eye from the Mahabharata). If we vacillate between different ...
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Is complete isolation possible?
Imagine an ideal box, whose contents are perfectly isolated. Whatever is inside it, it has not, has had or will have any relations with the rest of the universe. We could say that its content does not ...
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Is this event undetermined?
You toss a coin in an ideal, perfectly isolated box. If nothing and no one will ever check what face it shows, is this event objectively undetermined?
(My guess is yes – if the isolation is perfect ...
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Is this a paradox about clairvoyance?
You play a game with a fortune teller. There are two cards with the face down on the table; he wins if you raises the card's suit he foresees, you win if his prediction turns out to be wrong. Suppose ...
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Consciousness doesn't need your body - a thought experiment
1) During a deep sleep, your consciousness deactivates to reactivate upon awakening
2) During a deep sleep, you are narcotized and killed, to be replaced instantly by an identical copy, which wakes ...
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Authors on the philosophical impact of the discovery of an Extraterrestrial civilization [closed]
Is humanity ready to accept the existence of an extraterrestrial species? Would the average citizen of the XXI century would like to know or perhaps It would be better to society to remain ignorant? ...
user22051
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Does life imply death or the other way around? [closed]
I just heard that good ol' statement in a song and I automatically started wondering, since what's more logical to me is that death implies life? Any thoughts?
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Wanted: literature on the ethics of creating a fake world (The morality of God)
WARNING (reader discretion is advised. Don't do these experiments if you are not familiar with existential philosophy or if you suffer from some mental disorder)
This question is subtle. I think ...
user22051
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What ethical studies have been performed on what would happen if a government raises kids without parents?
This is a thought experiment that deals with morality and ethics:
Due to low natality governments decide to create schools in which kids
are raised by professional caregivers and people trained ...
user22051
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Is your phone a natural product?
We are part of this natural system where we live and that we named. Our cities, our trains, our streets, some beautiful and some disgraceful, are all part of our natural world, of what we have built ...
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How do materialists respond to the thought experiment of the perception of blue and red colors being swapped?
By materialism, I mean the belief that the totality of all in existence is material. That is, particles/waves/energy in the space-time fabric.
If one were to construct a thought experiment that ...
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What makes a great scientific question for and/or against a stupid idea?
While I am taking a walk I have come up with quotes, questions and philosophy to motivate and route myself.
I recently discovered/invented a new quote which really can have multiple meaning to it (...
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Schrödinger: order and perception
In a book called What is life? the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger ask himself why we don't perceive atoms, and says:
The reason for this is, that what we call thought is itself an
orderly ...
user29573
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Is epistemological potential relational?
There was a thought experiment that came to me.
Suppose there would only be a cube, and you as an observer. These are the restrictions.
You do not have any knowledge of yourself. i.e. questions ...
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