Abstract. Thought experiments are ordinary argumentation disguised in a vivid pictorial or narrative form. This account of their nature will allow me to show that empiricism has nothing to fear from thought experiments. They perform no epistemic magic.
Contents
Do thought experiments transcend empiricism?
A thought experiment is a good one (or “reliable,” as Norton puts it) insofar as the premises are empirically justified and the conclusion follows by good rules of inference. From this, he can now derive the crucial conclusion: Thought experiments do not transcend experience.
What is an example of a thought experiment?
Examples of thought experiments include Schrödinger’s cat, illustrating quantum indeterminacy through the manipulation of a perfectly sealed environment and a tiny bit of radioactive substance, and Maxwell’s demon, which attempts to demonstrate the ability of a hypothetical finite being to violate the 2nd law of …
What are thought experiments in philosophy?
Introduction. Thought experiments are performed in the imagination. We set up some situation, we observe what happens, then we try to draw appropriate conclusions. In this way, thought experiments resemble real experiments, except that they are experiments in the mind.
What was the point of Descartes thought experiments?
The purpose of Descartes’ “thought experiment” with the lump of wax was to show that: E. knowledge must be founded on reason rather than sense perception.
What was Galileo’s hypothesis in his thought experiment?
According to the story, Galileo discovered through this experiment that the objects fell with the same acceleration, proving his prediction true, while at the same time disproving Aristotle’s theory of gravity (which states that objects fall at speed proportional to their mass).
Are thought experiments useful?
Thought experiments may be useful in generating new hypotheses, but they fail to provide evidence in support of hypotheses. This naturalistic methodology provides ample room for philosophical in- vestigations that should be much more productive than mere speculation.
What is a thought experiment psychology?
thought experiment
a mental exercise in which a hypothesis or idea is put to the test without actually conducting an experiment or research project. The purpose is to explore the logical consequences of the hypothesis or idea.
Who is known for his thought experiments?
Galileo may never have dropped balls from the top of the leaning tower of Pisa, as the legend goes. But he did devise a simple thought experiment that told us something profound about gravity. Take two weights, one light, one heavy.
Who came up with thought experiment?
Ernst Mach is commonly credited with introducing the word “thought experiment” (Gadankenexperiment) and thereby coining a term for philosophical discussion (most recently Krauthausen 2015, p. 15).
What was the result of Galileo’s experiment?
One result of the experiment surprised Galileo, and one surprises us. Galileo found that the heavy ball hit the ground first, but only by a little bit. Except for a small difference caused by air resistance, both balls reached nearly the same speed. And that surprised him.
What was Galileo’s thought experiment that led to his hypothesis that all objects fall at the same rate?
Galileo’s Leaning Tower of Pisa Thought Experiment: Acceleration due to gravity is independent of Mass. The Power of Thought Experiments. Aristotle’s theory of gravity earlier stated that objects fall at speed proportional to their mass, which means the heavier the object is, the faster it will fall under gravity.
What is the focus of Aristotle and Galileo’s ideas?
Aristotle says that the heavier things are, the quicker they will fall, whereas Galileo felt that the mass of an object made no difference to the speed at which it fell. Year 5 experimented to find out who was right by dropping things of the same weight but different shape and the same shape by different weights.
What is the main distinction between Aristotle and Galileo’s concept of motion?
The Difference between Aristotle’s concept of motion and Galileo’s notion of motion is eleven o’clock That aristotle Affirmed That force is removed from an object it will stop while Galileo said an objects motion is stopped Because of the force of friction.
What is the main difference between the ideas of Galileo and Aristotle?
Ans:- Aristotle says that the heavier things are, the quicker they will fall, whereas Galileo felt that the mass of an object made no difference to the speed at which it fell. … They concluded that Aristotle was correct and it is the force of gravity that makes this happen.
Why Galileo did not believe in Aristotle’s theory of motion?
As we have seen, Galileo’s concept of inertia was quite contrary to Aristotle’s ideas of motion: in Galileo’s dynamics the arrow (with very small frictional forces) continued to fly through the air because of the law of inertia, while a block of wood on a table stopped sliding once the applied force was removed because …
What was the basic error in Aristotle’s thinking?
There are two kinds of errors: false statements and misuse of language. A false statement says that something is true of something else when it is not. The misuse of language happens when we use the wrong word to describe something. We should use words in the same ways that everyone else uses them.
What was impossible for Galileo to test?
Galileo cannot test his hypothesis directly
After Galileo defined uniform acceleration so that it would match the way he believed freely falling objects behaved, his next task was to devise a way of showing that the definition for uniform acceleration was useful for describing observed motions.
What can you say about Galileo’s view of motion?
Galileo was correct in his statement that objects in motion tend to stay in motion, but he seemed to believe that inertial motion moved equidistant from the center of the Earth. Descartes was the first one to correctly state that an object in motion continues its motion in a straight line.
What is Galileo’s law?
Galileo’s law of free fall states that, in the absence of air resistance, all bodies fall with the same acceleration, independent of their mass. This law is an approximation as can be shown by using Newtonian mechanics.
What is the difference of the observation of Newton and Galileo?
Galileo determined the laws of gravity and explored the laws of motion on earth. Newton first conclusively affirmed the laws of motion and linked them with Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Before Newton, no one had demonstrated conclusively that the movements of heavenly bodies were related to terrestrial physics.
What is Galileo’s law of inertia?
Galileo’s Law of Inertia states that; if no net force acts on an object, the object maintains in the same state of motion. This is a restatement of Newton’s First Law of Motion. The first law of Motion is also known as Galileo’s law of inertia.
How is Newton’s first law related to Galileo’s ideology?
Newton’s first law of motion states that the object tends to remain in the initial state untill no external force is applied to it which is also called Galileo’s law of inertia.
Who disproved the geocentric theory of universe?
The Copernican Revolution
At the beginning of the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the geocentric model and proposed that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun.
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