Thought Experiments in Methodological and Historical Contexts History of Science and Medicine Library VOLUME 19 Medieval and Early Modern Science Editors J.M.M.H. Thijssen, Radboud University Nijmegen C.H. Lthy, Radboud University Nijmegen Editorial Consultants Jol Biard, University of Tours Simo Knuuttila, University of Helsinki Jrgen Renn, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science Theo Verbeek, University of Utrecht VOLUME 15 Thought Experiments in Methodological and Historical Contexts Edited by Katerina Ierodiakonou Sophie Roux LEIDEN BOSTON 2011 Cover illustration: Camille Flammarion, Latmosphre: mtorologie populaire (1888). Anonymous woodcut. Colorization by Frdric Schmitt. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thought experiments in methodological and historical contexts/ edited by Katerina Ierodiakonou, Sophie Roux. p. cm. (Historyof scienceand medicine library, ISSN 1872-0684; v.19) (Medieval and early modern science ; v. 15) “This book is the distant outcome of a workshop on thought experiments that took place in Athens in April 2007“Acknowledgements. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-20176-7(hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Thought experimentsHistoryCongresses. I. Ierodiakonou, Katerina. II. Roux, Sophie. III. Title. IV. Series. BD265.T46 2011 190dc22 2011011640 ISSN1872-0684 ISBN 978 90 04 20176 7 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporatesthe imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishersand VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii List of Contributorsix Introduction: The Emergence of the Notion of Thought Experiments.1 Sophie Roux PART ONE HISTORICAL USES OF THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS Remarks on the History of an Ancient Thought Experiment 37 Katerina Ierodiakonou Thought Experiments in the De Anima Commentaries 51 Peter Lautner Thought Experiments in Late Medieval Debates on Atomism .65 Christophe Grellard PART TWO THE POSSIBILITY OF THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS Thought Experiments and Indirect Proofs in Averroes, Aquinas, and Buridan .83 Simo Knuuttilaand Taneli Kukkonen Galileo s Use of Medieval Thought Experiments 101 Carla Rita Palmerino On Kant s Critique of Thought Experiments in Early Modern Philosophy 127 Stelios Virvidakis vicontents PART THREE HOW DO THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS WORK? Philosophical Thought Experiments: In or out of the Armchair? 145 Pascal Engel On the Very Idea of a Thought Experiment 165 Jean-Yves Goffi and Sophie Roux Thought Experiments and Mental Simulations. 193 John Zeimbekis Bibliography . 217 Index Nominum . 229 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the distant outcome of a workshopon thought experiments that took place in Athens in April . This workshop,co-organisedby Frans De Haas,Katerina Ierodiakonou and Sophie Roux, was part of the programme“FromNaturalPhilosophytoScience”generouslysponsored by the European Science Foundation. In addition to the scholars whose essays follow in this volume, participants at the workshop also included Dionyssis Anapolitanos, Hugues Chabot, Vasso Kindi, Gerhard Krieger, Remke Kruk, Inna Kupreeva, Cees Leijenhorst and Chris Martin. We would like to thank the graduate student Ioannis Papachristou for his assistancewith the practicalities of the meeting. TheAthens workshopwas followed by an editorial meeting in Greno- ble in June , where a selection of papers read in Athens in prelim- inary form, once thoroughly revised, was keenly discussed. John Zeim- bekis kindly agreed to present a paper at this meeting without having been present in Athens. For her efficiency in helping to organise Greno- bles editorial meeting, we thank Loredana Truong, administrator of the group“Philosophie,LangageetCognition”oftheUniversityofGrenoble. For their constant support, we thank Hans Thijssen, Chairman of the programme“FromNaturalPhilosophytoScience,”andCeesLeijenhorst, Coordinator of the same programme. Finally, this book would not have beenpossiblewithoutBirgit Kolboske,whohelpedus inthelastphaseof a long editing process. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Pascal Engel, University of Geneva, Switzerland Jean-Yves Goffi, University of Grenoble, France Christophe Grellard, University of Paris I, France Katerina Ierodiakonou, University of Athens, Greece Simo Knuuttila, University of Helsinki, Finland Taneli Kukkonen, University of Jyvskyl, Finland Peter Lau