The relativized a priori and the laboratory of the mind: towards a neo-Kantian account of thought experiments in science
Journal title EPISTEMOLOGIA
Author/s Yiftach J.H. Fehige
Publishing Year 2013 Issue 2013/1
Language English Pages 19 P. 55-73 File size 320 KB
DOI 10.3280/EPIS2013-001004
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Building on a previously published contextualization of Marco Buzzoni’s Neo- Kantian account of scientific thought-experiments, this paper examines the explanatory power of this account. It is argued that Buzzoni’s account suffers from a number of shortcomings. Einstein’s clock-in-the-box thought experiment facilitates the demonstration of these deficits. In the light of both the identified inadequacies of Buzzoni’s account and the long-standing history of Kantian approaches to thought experiments, this paper finally sketches an alternative Neo-Kantian account. This alternative utilizes Michael Friedman’s reading of Kant’s a priori within a Kuhnian account of thought experiments along the lines of conceptual constructivism as anticipated by Georg Lichtenberg and further developed recently by Tamar Gendler.
Keywords: Marco Buzzoni, Neo-Kantianism, Einstein-Bohr debate, Clock-in-the-Box (CIB), Georg Lichtenberg, Thomas S. Kuhn, Tamar S. Gendler.
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Yiftach J.H. Fehige, The relativized a priori and the laboratory of the mind: towards a neo-Kantian account of thought experiments in science in "EPISTEMOLOGIA" 1/2013, pp 55-73, DOI: 10.3280/EPIS2013-001004