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  Inverted spectrum

  Inverted spectrum is the apparent possibility of two people sharing their color vocabulary and discriminations, although the colours one sees — their qualia — are systematically different from the colours the other person sees. The argument dates back to John Locke. It invites us to imagine that we...
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  Mary's room

  Mary's room (also known as Mary the super-scientist) is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (1982) and extended in "What Mary Didn't Know" (1986). The argument is intended to motivate what is often called the "Knowledge Argument"...
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  Chinese room

  The Chinese room is a thought experiment presented by John Searle. Suppose that there is a program that gives a computer the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation in written Chinese. If we give the program to someone who speaks only English to execute the instructions of the program by...
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  China brain

  In the philosophy of mind, the China brain thought experiment (also known as the Chinese Nation or Chinese Gym) considers what would happen if each member of the Chinese nation were asked to simulate the action of one neuron in the brain, using telephones or walkie-talkies to simulate the axons and...

• The Experience Machine

  The experience machine is a thought experiment put forward by philosopher Robert Nozick in his Anarchy, State, and Utopia. It is one of the best known attempts to refute ethical hedonism, and does so by imagining a choice between everyday reality and an apparently preferable simulated reality. If...

• Changing places

  The changing places thought experiment was conceived of by Max Velmans, Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and was discussed in his 2000 work, Understanding Consciousness. The experiment was designed to demonstrate the difficulties in distinguishing...

• Violinist

  The Violinist is a famous thought experiment first posed by Judith Jarvis Thomson in 1971. The "famous violinist" thought experiment asks a person to consider the ethics of a scenario where they wake to find themselves in a hospital serving as life support to a famous violinist. The person is asked...

• Utility monster

  The utility monster is a thought experiment in the study of ethics. It was created by philosopher Robert Nozick in 1974 as a criticism of utilitarianism. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical being is proposed who receives as much or more utility from each additional unit of a resource he...

• Twin Earth thought experiment

  The Twin Earth thought experiment was presented by philosopher Hilary Putnam in his 1973 paper "Meaning and Reference" and subsequent 1975 paper "The Meaning of 'Meaning'", as an early argument for what has subsequently come to be known as semantic externalism. Since that time, philosophers have...

• Bucket argument

  Isaac Newton's rotating bucket argument (also known as "Newton's bucket") was designed to demonstrate that true rotational motion cannot be defined as the relative rotation of the body with respect to the immediately surrounding bodies. It is one of five arguments from the "properties, causes, and...