Research Catalog

Title

Wittgenstein's beetle and other classic thought experiments / Martin Cohen.

Author

Cohen, Martin, 1964-

Publication

Oxford, UK ; Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2005.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

ix, 135 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"Thought experiments have played a central and significant role across a broad spectrum of philosophy and science, clarifying and solving complicated puzzles, problems and ideas in the 'laboratory of the mind'. This book offers a unique capsule history, inviting readers to participate actively in a surprisingly powerful and fruitful tradition."--Jacket.

Subject

• Thought experiments
• Gedachte-experimenten

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

A is for Alice and astronomers arguing about acceleration -- B is for Bernard's body-exchange machine -- C is for the Catholic cannibal -- D is for Maxwell's demon -- E is for evolution (and an embarrassing problem with it) -- F is for the forms lost forever to the prisoners of the cave -- G is for Galileo's gravitational balls -- H is for Hume's shades -- I is for the identity of indiscernibles -- J is for Henri Poincaré and alternative geometries -- K is for the Kritik and Kant's kind of thought experiments -- L is for Lucretius' spear -- M is for Mach's motionless chain -- N is for Newton's bucket -- O is for Olbers' paradox -- P is for Parfit's person -- Q is for the questions raised by thought experiments quotidiennes -- R is for the rule-ruled room -- S is for Salvatius' ship, sailing along its own space-time line -- T is for the time-travelling twins -- U is for the universe, and Einstein's attempts to understand it -- V is for the vexed case of the violinist -- W is for Wittgenstein's beetle -- X is for xenophanes and thinking by examples -- Y is for counterfactuals and a backwards approach to history -- Z is for Zeno and the mysteries of infinity.

ISBN

• 1405121912
• 9781405121910
• 1405121920
• 9781405121927

LCCN

• 2004010916
• 99809010856

OCLC

• ocm55220427
• 55220427
• SCSB-9581113

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library