Thought Experiments from a Kantian Point of View

Abstract

It makes intuitive sense to connect real experiments (REs) and thought experiments (TEs) in the natural sciences in a way that might account both for their unity and their distinction. We think of them as united because empirical REs and TEs tell us about the same empirical reality, and it would be hard to deny that their outcomes may either coincide or clash. We think of them as distinct because it would be just as hard to claim that their functions are identical, either by declaring that real execution is superfl uous or by reducing TEs to the formulation of questions that can be answered only by REs.