Thoughts on thought experiments

There is a long tradition within philosophy and science of making use of thought experiments to explore ideas that are impossible or ethical or otherwise are difficult to explore in reality. There have been arguments that the age of the thought experiment is over and that it is only by experimenting in the real World that trye progress can be made, but is this the case? Let us look at the two main areas of thought experiment seperately. In the world of science there are theories within physics that are not currently possible to test in the real world. I am thinking in of the details of particle physics where the Higgs Boson has been hypothesised by mathematical calculation but has yet to be discovered as a consequence of the enormous forces required to generate sub-atomic particles, and the difficulties in observing those particles whose lifetimes are almost infinitesimally small. Similarly the thought experiments of Erwin Schroedinger regarding chaos theory and inherent uncertainty and the influence of the observer would be impractical to replicate in the real World and would certainly raise animal welfare issues.

Looking now at the philosophical area we generally see thought experiments used where to cary out the experiment in real life would compromise ethical and moral mores. Examples of this type of thought experiment would be those based around thoughts on sacrifice for the great good, so perhaps the runaway tram experiment where there is a choice between killing one person and killing a tram full of passengers. This leads directly on to one of the counter arguments. It is generally considered to be extraordinarily difficult to place oneself as the subject of an experiment of this type into the mindset of someone actually in that situation, and consequently the results are suspect at best. We see evidence for this in research carried out by the American Army during the Second Wotld War and later during the Vietnam War where it was found that even after intense physical and psychological training it was very difficult for soldiers to actually kill the enemy except in the most extreme situations. There have been suggestions that the CIA attempted to counter this by the use of hallucinogenic drugs, particularly LSD, and this technique in itself has been used historically across Europe with psilocybin mushrooms and in Africa using a refined variant of THC the active component in cannabis.

A similar argument is put forward within science thought experiments in that they do not necessarily replicate real world conditions and are therefore subject to error. Additionally, by taking out real world influences, thought experiments can be seen as been more prone to the initial concepts of the experimenter being more subjective than would otherwise be the case. Personally I believe that there is still a place for these creative exercises, but in terms of stimulating intellectual and creative thought rather than with producing results in and of themselves. Whether this is the case or not, the concept of thought experiments is an interesting one, and certain deserves consideration….