The laboratory of the mind: Thought experiments in the natural sciences (Philosophical issues in science series)

This volume provides an investigation of thought experiments. Starting with Galileo's argument on falling bodies, it describes numerous examples of the most influential thought experiments from the history of science. Following this introduction to the subject, some substantial and provocative claims are made, the principle being that some thought experiments should be understood in the same way that Platonists understand mathematical activity: as an intellectual grasp of an independently existing abstract realm.