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Author Topic: Thought experiments and science.  (Read 1882 times)

Nearly Sane

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Thought experiments and science.
« on: January 02, 2018, 02:11:28 PM »
Interesting little essay on the value of thought experiments.



https://aeon.co/essays/do-thought-experiments-really-uncover-new-scientific-truths
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floo

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Re: Thought experiments and science.
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2018, 02:19:53 PM »
Quote from: Nearly Sane on January 02, 2018, 02:11:28 PM
Interesting little essay on the value of thought experiments.



https://aeon.co/essays/do-thought-experiments-really-uncover-new-scientific-truths

It looks interesting, although I won't pretend to understand it all.
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Nearly Sane

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Re: Thought experiments and science.
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2018, 02:24:41 PM »
Quote from: Littleroses on January 02, 2018, 02:19:53 PM
It looks interesting, although I won't pretend to understand it all.
As long as it promote interesting questions, then that's good. I doubt that people understand all of what they write never mind what other's write.
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Harrowby Hall

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Re: Thought experiments and science.
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2018, 03:06:08 PM »
I'm tempted to think that the most useful bit was the quotation from Feynman - "philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds".

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jeremyp

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Re: Thought experiments and science.
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2018, 08:21:25 PM »
Thought experiments are useful although they must be used with caution. For example Galileo's famous thought experiment about why heavy objects must fall at the same rate as light objects is fallacious.



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Walter

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Re: Thought experiments and science.
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2018, 11:41:34 PM »
Quote from: Harrowby Hall on January 02, 2018, 03:06:08 PM
I'm tempted to think that the most useful bit was the quotation from Feynman - "philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds".
yes , I like that one ,says it all really .
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Walt Zingmatilder

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Re: Thought experiments and science.
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2018, 10:55:37 AM »
Quote from: Harrowby Hall on January 02, 2018, 03:06:08 PM
I'm tempted to think that the most useful bit was the quotation from Feynman - "philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds".
or as useful as Feynman diagrams are to people who aren't having their particle hobby indulged by payment, eh Hall? ;)
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Walt Zingmatilder

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Re: Thought experiments and science.
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2018, 11:28:29 AM »
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