Abstract
Roy Sorensen advances an evolutionary explanation of our capacity for thought experiments which doubles as a naturalized epistemological justification. I argue Sorensen”s explanation fails to satisfy key elements of environmental-selectionist explanations and so fails to carry epistemic force. I then argue that even if Sorensen succeeds in showing the adaptive utility of our capacity, he still fails to establish its reliability and hence epistemic utility. I conclude Sorensen”s account comes to little more than a “just-so story”.
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MAFFIE, J. “Just-so” stories about “inner cognitive Africa”: some doubts about Sorensen's evolutionary epistemology of thought experiments. Biology & Philosophy 12, 207–224 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017986908266
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017986908266