With plenty of twists and turns, The Psychology of Time Travel is a provocative
thought experiment.
In 1971 the philosopher John Rawls proposed a
thought experiment to understand the idea of fairness: the 'veil of ignorance.' What if, he asked, we could erase our recollections so we had no memory of who we were-our race, our income level, anything that may influence our opinion?
Critique: Deftly crafted, entertainingly thoughtful and thoughtprovoking, "Coming From Nothing" is an ideal vehicle for launching the new Zero Books '
Thought Experiment' series of novellas and will prove to be a welcome and enduringly popular addition to both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections.
Call it a reality-based
thought experiment. Here goes: Imagine a government, run by a bloodthirsty dictator, who bombed a heavily populated urban area containing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, reducing it to rubble.
The phenomenon dates back to a famous
thought experiment from 1935.
I am especially intrigued by a
thought experiment of looking at North Korea through the lens of the "Lean Startup."
For years, I've led my students, at the start of our study of King Lear, into a
thought experiment about death.
This
thought experiment is widely used to explore the consequences of different ethical philosophies--and to illustrate that there are often no perfect choices.
A
thought experiment reveals the danger of arming Good against Bad
Students began the philosophy lesson by responding to a question: "Are all human lives equal?" Next, a
thought experiment asked students to choose between allowing a bomb to detonate near several family members or next to a much larger population of innocent people.
Another concern about Ignatieff's account of the relationship between the human rights
thought experiment and his advocacy program centered on civic virtue, is that it amounts to a noble lie.