Intuition, Imagination, and Philosophical Methodology [Hardcover]

Tamar Gendler draws together in this book a series of essays in which she investigates philosophical methodology, which is now emerging as a central topic of philosophical discussions. Three intertwined themes run through the volume:imagination, intuition and philosophical methodology. Each of the chapters focuses, in one way or another, on how we engage with subject matter that we take to be imaginary. This theme is explored in a wide range of cases, including scientific thought experiments, early childhood pretense, thought experiments concerning personal identity, fictional emotions, self-deception, Gettier cases, and the general relation of conceivability to possibility. Each of the chapters explores, in one way or another, the implications of this for how thought experiments and appeals to intuition can serve as mechanisms for supporting or refuting scientific or philosophical claims. And each of the chapters self-consciously exhibits a particular philosophical methodology: that of drawing both on empirical findings from contemporary psychology, and on classic texts in the philosophical tradition (particularly the work of Aristotle and Hume.) By exploring and exhibiting the fruitfulness of these interactions, Gendler promotes the value of engaging in such cross-disciplinary conversations in illuminating philosophical issues.

Preface
Introduction
Part I: Thought Experiments, Intuitions and Philosophical Methodology
Thought Experiments in Science
1. Galileo and the Indispensability of Scientific Thought Experiment
2. Thought Experiments Rethought - and Reperceived
Thought Experiments and Personal Identity
3. Exceptional Persons: On the Limits of Imaginary Cases
4. Personal Identity and Thought-Experiments
Intuitions and Philosophical Methodology
5. The Real Guide to Fake Barns: A Catalogue of Gifts for Your Epistemic Enemies
6. Philosophical Thought Experiments, Intuitions and Cognitive Equilibriumlc-