Faversham Stoa is a philosophy discussion group meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of every month from 7.30 to 9.30pm in the The Bull in Tanners Street. We cover a large range of topics. If you have an idea for a topic that you would like us to cover why not drop us a line? There's no charge for membership and everyone is welcome to drop in. Just bring your brain and some beer money!

Thought Experiments

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Thought experiments are short stories that philosophers use to dramatise and clarify particular philosophical problems. As the name suggests they are speculative exercises taking place entirely in the mind with no real-world experimentation involved. The intention is to draw out our natural intuitions about the problem in question and that is where some philosophers tend to balk. It is not always possible to say what our intuitions are when confronted with some of these problems or to know what they should be.

This month we will be looking at ten well-known philosophical thought experiments, all from Julian Baggini's book The Pig Who Wants to be Eaten. Not only will we be discussing answers to these problems but we will also be considering how valuable these kinds of experiment are.

Try your brain on these:

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