Title

« Thought experiments » as a Tool in History of Science to Understand Innovations

Abstract

Many authors are credited with the uses of « thought experiments », such as Ernst Mach (Gedanken Experiment), Alexandre Koyré (Expérience de pensée) and Ludwick Fleck (DenkExperiment). And so there were interesting explanations not only about innovations, but also about the way to make science appear as an adventure. This worked quite well with Galileo, Kepler, Carnot, Fourier and as is well known with Einstein and the Langevin traveller. Such ways of explanation – after all the main motivation for writing history of science – are more or less openly related to controversies about realism and idealism, or about where to classify « mathematical physics ». This last expression is generally used for official purposes in research programs, but generally, it is avoided for university curriculum. My purpose here is not to detail specific cases, even if I may use some, but to investigate the epistemological and even ideological purposes for such qualifications as « thought experiments ». What are they bringing, and what are they avoiding? Can’t it be a way of to provide a historical support to the notion of construction of science, somewhat embarrassed in–between sociology and epistemology?

References

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Contact

• jean.dhombres@cnrs.fr