The Relation between Conceivability and Possibility in the Context of Thought Experiments in Philosophy

Abstract

The article draws on the work of Stephen Yablo and Peter van Inwagen so as to analyze the problems of (1) imaginability as the criterion of conceivability and (2) the relation between conceivability and possibility. Given that thought experiments are a kind of modal reasoning, the findings about the nature of the conceivability–possibility relation affect the role of thought experiments in philosophy. In my view, although imaginability fails to provide new knowledge about the world, it is a useful tool for justifying philosophical intuitions.