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VERSION:2.0
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260426T131553Z
DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260430T160000
DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20260430T180000
SUMMARY:Internal Validity\, External Validity and the Evaluation of Thought Experiments in Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy
UID:20260429T011422Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6b96c54f56-bljdq
TZID:Australia/Melbourne
LOCATION:Arts West\, West Wing\, 213 Digital Lab\, Melbourne\, Australia
DESCRIPTION:<p><strong>Abstract:</strong>&nbsp\;Thought experiments clearly play a central role in much contemporary ethical theorising. In the recent literature on thought experiments\, some commentators (e.g. Wilson 2016\; Dowding 2019) have criticised the lack of attention paid by moral philosophers to two ideas which are key notions in science. These are&nbsp\;internal&nbsp\;and external&nbsp\;validity. Wilson argues that if thought experiments are indeed a kind of experiment\, then philosophers should begin any plausible search for rigour in the scientific literature on experimental research design. When designing a thought experiment\, Wilson suggests we consider the extent to which ethical&nbsp\;judgements that are correct or endorsed in the world of the experiment generalise to the world beyond the experiment. This is an important question to consider. However\, I suggest that Wilson&rsquo\;s approach: (i) overstates the connection between real-world scientific experiments and thought experiments and\; (ii) focuses too readily on the formal structure of thought experiments at the expense of the argumentative context. With respect to the former claim\, I suggest that this points towards a more general thesis that it is a mistake to treat the reasoning involved in the use of thought experiments as a subset of scientific reasoning.&nbsp\; I shall also consider\, towards the end of the talk\, a more moderate (and plausible) view of the positive role that the concepts of&nbsp\;internal&nbsp\;and external&nbsp\;validity&nbsp\;might play in evaluating and assessing the legitimacy of thought experiments.</p>
ORGANIZER;CN=Daniel Halliday:
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