Sciweavers

COGSCI
2008

The Step to Rationality: The Efficacy of Thought Experiments in Science, Ethics, and Free Will

13 years 3 months ago
The Step to Rationality: The Efficacy of Thought Experiments in Science, Ethics, and Free Will
Examples from Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and others suggest that fundamental laws of physics were--or, at least, could have been--discovered by experiments performed not in the physical world but only in the mind. Although problematic for a strict empiricist, the evolutionary emergence s of deeply internalized implicit knowledge of abstract principles of transformation and symmetry may have been crucial for humankind's step to rationality--including the discovery of universal principles of mathematics, physics, ethics, and an account of free will that is compatible with determinism.
Roger N. Shepard
Added 09 Dec 2010
Updated 09 Dec 2010
Type Journal
Year 2008
Where COGSCI
Authors Roger N. Shepard
Comments (0)