The Laboratory of the Mind: Thought Experiments in the Natural Sciences / Edition 1

by James Robert Brown

Overview

Thought 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.
Starting with Galileo's argument on falling bodies, Brown describes numerous examples of the most influential thought experiments from the history of science. Following this introduction to the subject, some substantial and provocative claims are made, the principle being that some thought experiments should be understood in the same way that platonists understand mathematical activity: as an intellectual grasp of an independently existing abstract realm.
With its clarity of style and structure, The Laboratory of the Mind will find readers among all philosophers of science as well as scientists who have puzzled over how thought experiments work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415095792
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/29/1993
Series:	Philosophical Issues in Science
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

James Robert Brown is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments vi

Preface (to the second edition) ix

1 Illustrations from the laboratory of the mind 1

2 The structure of thought experiments 32

3 Counter thought experiments 48

4 Mathematical thinking 67

5 Seeing the laws of nature 98

6 The development of inertial motion 125

7 Einstein's brand of verificationism 152

8 Quantum mechanics: a Platonic interpretation 176

Afterword 201

Notes 205

Bibliography 210

Index 223

Editorial Reviews

Starting with Galileo's argument on falling bodies, Brown describes many of the most influential examples. A pro-rationalist, anti- empiricist work. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"If thought experiments have extraordinary powers, then they need an extraordinary epistemology. This book is the only serious attempt to provide it."–John Norton, University of Pittsburgh

Praise for the first edition:

"Cogent, lively, enthusiastic ... A wonderfully stimultating book, highly rcommended"
–CHOICE

"I recommend this book to anybody interested in the philosophy of science...a fascinating compendium of these testaments to scientific genius."–David Papineau, Times Higher Education Supplement

From the Publisher