Definition of Thought Experiment (What is the P-Zombie? -Series)

Part 2 in “What is the P-Zombie? – Series

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(If you haven’t, see Part 1 of P-Zombie series.)

A thought experiment is a powerful device that all great thinkers use.

A thought experiment is a device with which one performs an intentional, structured process of intellectual deliberation in order to speculate, within a specifiable problem domain, about potential consequents (or antecedents) for a designated antecedent (or consequent). Yeates, 2004, p. 150

What the Heck Does that Mean?

Einstein and His Thought Experiments Changed the World

Basically, the thought experiment is an experiment that you imagine in your mind… Usually you conduct a thought experiment because you lack the means to test a hypothesis in the physical world.

As the definition explains, the thought experiment must have parameters and generally explores causes and effects.