Wiktionary
thought experiments
n. (thought experiment English)
Usage examples of "thought experiments".
We can use Discworld for thought experiments about what science might have looked like if the universe had been different, or if the history of science had followed a different route.
Suddenly she was in a position to move proposals like that out of the realms of thought experiments, even make them happen.
Conceive of it as a method for making thought experiments and projections when you don't have hard data, but need to substitute imagination instead.