Table Of ContentThought Experiments in
Methodological and Historical Contexts
History of Science
and Medicine Library
VOLUME19
Medieval and
Early Modern Science
Editors
J.M.M.H.Thijssen,RadboudUniversityNijmegen
C.H. Lüthy,RadboudUniversityNijmegen
EditorialConsultants
Joël Biard,UniversityofTours
Simo Knuuttila,UniversityofHelsinki
Jürgen Renn,Max-Planck-InstitutefortheHistoryofScience
Theo Verbeek,UniversityofUtrecht
VOLUME15
Thought Experiments
in Methodological and
Historical Contexts
Editedby
Katerina Ierodiakonou
Sophie Roux
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2011
Coverillustration:CamilleFlammarion,L’atmosphère:météorologiepopulaire(1888).
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Thoughtexperimentsinmethodologicalandhistoricalcontexts/editedbyKaterina
Ierodiakonou,SophieRoux.
p.cm.–(Historyofscienceandmedicinelibrary,ISSN1872-0684;v.19)(Medievaland
earlymodernscience;v.15)
"Thisbookisthedistantoutcomeofaworkshoponthoughtexperimentsthattookplacein
AthensinApril2007"–Acknowledgements.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-20176-7(hardcover:alk.paper)
1.Thoughtexperiments–History–Congresses.I.Ierodiakonou,Katerina.II.Roux,Sophie.
III.Title.IV.Series.
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2011011640
ISSN 1872-0684
ISBN 9789004201767
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements.................................................... vii
ListofContributors.................................................... ix
Introduction:TheEmergenceoftheNotionofThought
Experiments......................................................... 1
SophieRoux
PARTONE
HISTORICALUSESOFTHOUGHTEXPERIMENTS
RemarksontheHistoryofanAncientThoughtExperiment ........ 37
KaterinaIerodiakonou
ThoughtExperimentsintheDeAnimaCommentaries.............. 51
PeterLautner
ThoughtExperimentsinLateMedievalDebatesonAtomism....... 65
ChristopheGrellard
PARTTWO
THEPOSSIBILITYOFTHOUGHTEXPERIMENTS
ThoughtExperimentsandIndirectProofsinAverroes,Aquinas,
andBuridan......................................................... 83
SimoKnuuttilaandTaneliKukkonen
Galileo’sUseofMedievalThoughtExperiments...................... 101
CarlaRitaPalmerino
OnKant’sCritiqueofThoughtExperimentsinEarlyModern
Philosophy .......................................................... 127
SteliosVirvidakis
vi contents
PARTTHREE
HOWDOTHOUGHTEXPERIMENTSWORK?
PhilosophicalThoughtExperiments:InoroutoftheArmchair?.... 145
PascalEngel
OntheVeryIdeaofaThoughtExperiment .......................... 165
Jean-YvesGoffiandSophieRoux
ThoughtExperimentsandMentalSimulations....................... 193
JohnZeimbekis
Bibliography ........................................................... 217
IndexNominum ....................................................... 229
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thisbookisthedistantoutcomeofaworkshoponthoughtexperiments
thattookplaceinAthensinApril.Thisworkshop,co-organisedby
FransDeHaas,KaterinaIerodiakonouandSophieRoux,waspartofthe
programme“FromNaturalPhilosophytoScience”generouslysponsored
bytheEuropeanScienceFoundation. Inaddition tothescholarswhose
essaysfollowinthisvolume,participantsattheworkshopalsoincluded
DionyssisAnapolitanos,HuguesChabot,VassoKindi,GerhardKrieger,
Remke Kruk, Inna Kupreeva, Cees Leijenhorst and Chris Martin. We
would like to thank the graduate student Ioannis Papachristou for his
assistancewiththepracticalitiesofthemeeting.
TheAthensworkshopwasfollowedbyaneditorialmeetinginGreno-
ble in June , wherea selectionofpapers readin Athensin prelim-
inaryform,oncethoroughlyrevised,waskeenly discussed.JohnZeim-
bekis kindly agreed to present a paper at this meeting without having
beenpresentinAthens.ForherefficiencyinhelpingtoorganiseGreno-
ble’seditorialmeeting,wethankLoredanaTruong,administratorofthe
group“Philosophie,LangageetCognition”oftheUniversityofGrenoble.
Fortheirconstantsupport,wethankHansThijssen,Chairmanofthe
programme“FromNaturalPhilosophytoScience,”andCeesLeijenhorst,
Coordinatorofthesameprogramme.Finally, thisbookwouldnothave
beenpossiblewithoutBirgitKolboske,whohelpedusinthelastphaseof
alongeditingprocess.
LISTOFCONTRIBUTORS
PascalEngel,UniversityofGeneva,Switzerland
Jean-YvesGoffi,UniversityofGrenoble,France
ChristopheGrellard,UniversityofParisI,France
KaterinaIerodiakonou,UniversityofAthens,Greece
SimoKnuuttila,UniversityofHelsinki,Finland
TaneliKukkonen,UniversityofJyväskylä,Finland
PeterLautner,PázmányPéterCatholicUniversity,Hungary
CarlaRitaPalmerino,RadboudUniversityNijmegen,TheNetherlands
SophieRoux,UniversityofGrenoble,France
SteliosVirvidakis,UniversityofAthens,Greece
JohnZeimbekis,UniversityofGrenoble,France
