Wiktionary
n. (context physics philosophy English) An attempt to solve a problem using the power of human imagination.
Wikipedia
A thought experiment considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. Given the structure of the experiment, it may or may not be possible to actually perform it, and if it can be performed, there need be no intention of any kind to actually perform the experiment in question.
The common goal of a thought experiment is to explore the potential consequences of the principle in question: "A thought experiment is a device with which one performs an intentional, structured process of intellectual deliberation in order to speculate, within a specifiable problem domain, about potential consequents (or antecedents) for a designated antecedent (or consequent)" (Yeates, 2004, p. 150).
Famous examples of thought experiments include Schrödinger's cat, illustrating quantum indeterminacy through the manipulation of a perfectly sealed environment and a tiny bit of radioactive substance, and Maxwell's demon, which attempts to demonstrate the ability of a hypothetical finite being to violate the second law of thermodynamics.
Usage examples of "thought experiment".
This paradox is illustrated by the well-known thought experiment in which a man psychically kills his grandmother in the past, when she was a child, thereby preventing himself from ever coming into existence.
For argument's sake, let's say that at the beginning of our thought experiment, unwound string modes are the light ones and by using them it is determined that the universe has an enormously large radius and that it is shrinking in time.
His vision of an Autoverse biosphere had impressed her-when she'd thought he'd understood that it could never be anything but a thought experiment.
His vision of an Autoverse biosphere had impressed herwhen she'd thought he'd understood that it could never be anything but a thought experiment.
In this way, the passion of the novel for the Cheyenne strengthens the novel's thought experiment by illuminating a process of cultural exchange that might preserve a threatened people.