Skip to content

Ask an Academic

  • Home
  • Ask a Question
  • Contact Us
Crowd of people

Thought experiments

September 25, 2019 by AskanAcademic.com

A thought experiment is a hypothetical scenario which is designed to isolate and test a particular principle. Sometimes they are exploratory...

Question

What is a thought experiment and why are they useful?

Answer

A thought experiment is a hypothetical scenario which is designed to isolate and test a particular principle. Sometimes they are exploratory, and are intended to provoke responses and spur debate, or sometimes they can be designed to present a case that is particularly challenging for a theory to account for. They do not have to be plausible – in fact, many thought experiments are extremely outlandish and convoluted – but they must be conceivable.

As an example, a common thought experiment is the ‘trolley problem’, wherein the imaginer is asked whether to divert the course of a runaway train to prevent the deaths of multiple people at the expense of causing the death of just one. The intention of this particular experiment is to isolate the respondent’s intuitions with regard to the relative moral weights of killing and letting die when set against the moral weight of differing consequences.

Thought experiments are useful because they provide an opportunity to test theories against the most extreme cases that they can be expected to account for, the implication being that if they can accommodate these outliers, they are robust enough to deal with anything.

References

Post navigation

Previous Post:

Small-town America in ‘Adventure’

Next Post:

Components of Marketing Management

Search Q&As

Categories

  • Art Media and Literature (74)
  • Business and Management (256)
  • Computing and ICT (14)
  • Construction and Engineering (35)
  • Education (90)
  • Environmental Sciences (2)
  • Finance and Economics (91)
  • Health (64)
  • Languages (12)
  • Law (88)
  • Mathematics and Statistics (2)
  • Medical Sciences (19)
  • Politics and International Relations (83)
  • Research Methodology (1)
  • Science (49)
  • Social Sciences (101)

Archives

Who We Are

Askanacademic.com is owned and operated by All Answers Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Company Registration No: 4964706. VAT Registration No: 842417633. Data Controller No: Z1821391.

Registered office:
Venture House
Cross Street
Arnold
Nottingham
NG5 7PJ

Main Navigation

  • Home
  • Ask a Question
  • Contact Us

Legals

  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Popular Categories

  • Business and Management
  • Law
  • Finance and Economics
  • Health
An an Academic Logo
© 2023 Ask an Academic | WordPress Theme by Superb Themes
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Reject
Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT