Exploring Philosophical Thought Experiments


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Exploring Philosophical Thought Experiments


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For your essay, choose one of the following Thought Experiments (and Philosopher) to investigate. Start with the Philosopher (in brackets) who is responsible for the Thought Experiment: The Ship of Theseus (Plato): A thought experiment on the nature of identity. The Inverted Spectrum Problem (John Locke): A thought experiment on the nature of perception and reality. The Swamp Man (Donald Davidson): A thought experiment on the construction of meaning. The Prisoner’s Dilemma (Merrill Flood and Melvin Drescher): A thought experiment on reward and punishment The Private Language Argument, “Beetle in a Box” (Ludwig Wittgenstein): A thought experiment on the nature of language. Mary’s Room, Knowledge Argument (Frank Jackson): A thought experiment on the nature of knowledge. The Chinese Room Argument (John Searle): A thought experiment about Artificial Intelligence. The Pleasure Machine, or Experience Machine (Robert Nozick): A thought experiment on the value of pleasure. The Utility Monster (Robert Nozick): A thought experiment that refutes ethical utilitarianism. The Trolley Problem (Philippa Foot): A thought experiment in personal ethics. Thomson’s Violinist (Judith Jarvis Thomson): A thought experiment on the defense of abortion. The Original Position (John Rawls): A thought experiment on the nature of society. Essay 2 can be thought of as five tasks (5), and its structure is a mini-argument. Follow the same format as the Discussions. Your 4-5 pp. Thought Experiment Essay should work through the following tasks: 1. Describe this experiment in your paper as well as its origin (who made it and why? A thorough research of secondary literature will help you going forward), and 2. Describe the logic of the experiment (what is it supposed to teach?). 3. Explain what you personally learned by engaging in the thought experiment (personal example welcome), and 4. How you might use your new knowledge. 5. Research and Citations. Be generous here. Any argument with fewer than 4-5 texts for research will probably be invited to resubmit