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Peeking into Plato's Heaven

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

James Robert Brown
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Abstract

Examples of classic thought experiments are presented and some morals drawn. The views of my fellow symposiasts, Tamar Gendler, John Norton, and James McAllister, are evaluated. An account of thought experiments along a priori and Platonistic lines is given. I also cite the related example of proving theorems in mathematics with pictures and diagrams. To illustrate the power of these methods, a possible refutation of the continuum hypothesis using a thought experiment is sketched.

Type
The Epistemology of thought Experiments
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 71 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2002 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers , December 2004 , pp. 1126 - 1138
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Acknowledgement. I'm grateful to my fellow symposiasts, Tamar Szabó Gendler, James McAllister, and especially John Norton who organized the session. I have benefited enormously from discussions with him on these issues over the years and on this paper in particular. I'm also very glad to thank my daughter, Elizabeth, who provided some of the drawings.

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