The Relation between Conceivability and Possibility in the Context of Thought Experiments in Philosophy

• Authors: Piotr Biłgorajski

Title variants

PL

Relacja między pojmowalnością a możliwością w kontekście sporu o znaczenie eksperymentów myślowych w filozofii

EN

The Relation between Conceivability and Possibility in the Context of Thought Experiments in Philosophy

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

The article draws on the work of Stephen Yablo and Peter van Inwagen so as to analyze the problems of (1) imaginability as the criterion of conceivability and (2) the relation between conceivability and possibility. Given that thought experiments are a kind of modal reasoning, the findings about the nature of the conceivability–possibility relation affect the role of thought experiments in philosophy. In my view, although imaginability fails to provide new knowledge about the world, it is a useful tool for justifying philosophical intuitions.

• Publisher: University of Warsaw, Institute of Philosophy
• Journal: Filozofia Nauki
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 149-166

Dates

published

2016-12-01

Contributors

author

Piotr Biłgorajski