Bringing thought experiments back into the philosophy of science

Arnon Levy*, Adrian Currie

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

To a large extent, the evidential base of claims in the philosophy of science has switched from thought experiments to case studies. We argue that abandoning thought experiments was a wrong turn, since they can effectively complement case studies. We make our argument via an analogy with the relationship between experiments and observations within science. Just as experiments and ‘natural’ observations can together evidence claims in science, each mitigating the downsides of the other, so too can thought experiments and case studies be mutually supporting. After presenting the main argument, we look at potential concerns about thought experiments, suggesting that a judiciously applied mixed-methods approach can overcome them.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)149-157
Number of pages9
JournalStudies in History and Philosophy of Science
Volume105
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024

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