Despite its enormous empirical success, the formalism of quantum theory still raises fundamental questions: why is nature described in terms of complex Hilbert spaces, and what modifications of it ...could we reasonably expect to find in some regimes of physics? Here we address these questions by studying how compatibility with thermodynamics constrains the structure of quantum theory. We employ two postulates that any probabilistic theory with reasonable thermodynamic behaviour should arguably satisfy. In the framework of generalised probabilistic theories, we show that these postulates already imply important aspects of quantum theory, like self-duality and analogues of projective measurements, subspaces and eigenvalues. However, they may still admit a class of theories beyond quantum mechanics. Using a thought experiment by von Neumann, we show that these theories admit a consistent thermodynamic notion of entropy, and prove that the second law holds for projective measurements and mixing procedures. Furthermore, we study additional entropy-like quantities based on measurement probabilities and convex decomposition probabilities, and uncover a relation between one of these quantities and Sorkin's notion of higher-order interference.
This article begins with a brief review of research on the development of ideas about the knowledge-based economy (analysed here as 'economic imaginaries') and their influence on how social forces ...within and beyond the academy have attempted to reorganize higher education and research in response to real and perceived challenges and crises in the capitalist order since the mid-1970s. This provides the historical context for three 'thought experiments' about other aspects of the development of academic capitalism. The first involves a reductio ad absurdum argument about different potential steps in the economization, marketization and financialization of education and research and is illustrated from recent changes in higher education. The second maps actual strategies of the entrepreneurial university and their role in shaping academic capitalism. The third speculates on possible forms of 'political' academic capitalism and their changing places in the interstices of the other trends posited in these thought experiments. The article ends with suggestions for a research agendum that goes beyond thought experiments to substantive empirical investigations.(HRK / Abstract übernommen).
Sustainability, beauty, and power are notions that hit our contemporary perception every day. However, they have been an integral part of architecture and urban planning in various forms since the ...ages. The paper presents their fundamental descriptions, followed by an assessment of their mutual relations and impact on architecture through a triangular architectural relation model developed by the authors of the article. Using the theoretical thought experiment, it highlights eight boundary models along with their main characteristics, in particular, the implosion, explosion, shared-control, utilitarian, no-control, supremacy, inside-forced, and outside-forced architectural related models. Such models can help predict future events, explain past events, make decisions, and plan strategies, or reveal problems and propose new solutions. Other applications include determination of the causes of certain results or finding out the responsibility and mechanisms that led to them. The authors are of the opinion that the mutual denominator of sustainability, beauty, and power represents ethics that should be forced in architectural education and practice.
Until recently, leading work on the philosophy of thought experiments mistakenly credited Mach with coining the term. While Ørsted's prior use has become more widely acknowledged, there remains a ...consensus that Mach is the true source of the concept as currently understood. I argue that Mach's view has key features in common with Ørsted's account. Features of thought experiment emphasized by both Ørsted and Mach include (1) its experimental method of variation, (2) scientific thought as an expression of human autonomy, (3) its potential to solve the problem of new knowledge in geometry, and (4) the importance of thought experiment for pedagogy. These similarities make it likely, as an inference to the best explanation, that Mach was familiar with Ørsted's work. My research challenges recent assertions that Ørsted's view had no detectable influence on the development of the concept of thought experiment; I also raise problems for the assumption that Mach's view gained popularity because of its theoretical advantages over Ørsted's. I conclude there is no justification for drawing a line across the history of the philosophy of thought experiments that includes Mach but excludes Ørsted.
Organization theory seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand, there are arguments that the field is too preoccupied with theory, leaving its work abstract and practically ...irrelevant. On the other hand, there are arguments that the field is overly empirical and too methods-driven, which hampers the creation of ideas that resonate with constituencies beyond the organization studies community. How to resolve this apparent conundrum? In this essay we argue that neither more theorizing nor more forensic data-driven work might address the problem; rather, and perhaps surprisingly, we propose that a philosophical stance might offer a remedy. The aim of this essay is (1) to explore thought experiments as a genuine philosophical method that is designed to develop promising ideas and concepts and (2) to reflect on how such conceptual work can help shape organization theory to be conceptually more stimulating and practically more relevant. We argue that this particular kind of conceptual work has been and should continue to be one of the hallmarks of organization theory. Thus thought experiments represent a valuable methodological extension of our toolkit as they provide crucial devices triggering transformations in thought and practice.
In her already classical criticism of thought-experimenting, Kathy Wilkes points to superficialities in the most famous moral-political thought experiments, taking the Ring of Gyges as her central ...example. Her critics defend the Ring by discussing possible variations in the scenario(s) imagined. I propose here that the debate points to a significant dual structure of thought experiments. Their initial presentation(s) mobilize the immediate, cognitively not very impressive imaginative and refl ective efforts both of the proponent and the listener of the proposal. The further debate, like the one exemplifi ed by Wilkes’s criticisms and some of the answers, appeals to a deeper, more rational variety of imagination and reasoning. I suggest that this duality is typical for moral and political thought experimenting in general, conjecture that it might be extended to the whole area of thought experimenting.
Trade has been substantially influencing regional economic development, environmental sustainability, and human well-being. Enabled by the decomposition analysis, pollution haven hypothesis or ...“no-trade” scenarios (NTSs), the effects of trade on global/national social-economic-environmental development have been revealed. However, major limitations (e.g., using with-trade economic structures or neglecting price differences) existed in previous studies, and thus made the previous assessments of trade's effects unsatisfactorily. This study develops a novel NTS that addresses the existing limitations, and further applies it to estimate the effect of trade on global economic development and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We show that current international trade benefits the global economic growth but with a consequence of more GHG emissions compared with the NTS. The hypothetical production in small countries (e.g., Luxembourg or Japan) would be more constrained by the production factors (e.g., land) under the NTS, compared with those factor-endowment countries (e.g., the United States or India). For country-specific analysis, we find that today's developed countries would have a substantial increase in their GHG emissions of clothing- and service-related products under the NTS, whereas countries with net-export (e.g., China or Brazil) would have less GHG emissions under the NTS. Enhancing future global collaborations is vital, especially for small or resource-deficient economies, if they are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
•A novel no-trade scenario (NTS) to address the limitations of existing NTS studies.•Current international trade induces global economic growth with more GHG emissions.•Economy and GHG emissions would recede in countries with limited production factors.•Developed and current net-export countries would perform differently under the NTS.•Enhancing the multi-lateral collaborations is suggested towards sustainability.
This paper explores the potential political implications of the geographic and technical characteristics of renewable energy systems. This is done through a thought experiment that imagines a purely ...renewable based energy system, keeping all else equal. We start by noting that all countries have access to some form of renewable energy, though some are better endowed than others. We find two major implications for renewable energy based markets: a) countries face a make or buy decision, i.e. they have a choice to produce or import energy; b) electricity is the dominant energy carrier, implying a more physically integrated infrastructure with stringent managerial requirements. Two scenarios illustrate the strategic concerns arising from these implications: Continental, following a buy decision and more centralized network, and National, following a make decision and more decentralized network. Three observations stand out compared to the geopolitics of an energy system based on fossil fuels. First, a shift in considerations from getting access to resources to strategic positioning in infrastructure management. Second, a shift in strategic leverage from producers to consumers and those countries being able to render balancing and storage services. Finally, the possibility for most countries to become a ‘prosumer country’ may greatly reduce any form of geopolitical concern.
•Paper explores potential political implications of renewable energy.•Three step thought experiment imagines purely renewable energy system.•Countries face a make or buy decision, either producing or importing energy.•Electricity is dominant energy carrier, making balancing and storage key activities.•Continental and National scenarios explore materialization options of renewables.
This article proposes a first approach of the science-fiction genre through the lens of thought experiment. Thought experiment opens a path to a new definition of the genre that would enable to avoid ...the main pitfalls raised by John Rieder. Therefore it provides an opportunity to take simultaneously into account the historical context of the generic objects, their reception and their use. A first definition of thought experiment will enable us to define the fictional nature and will as well raise some functional features relating to this kind of experiment. Then we will try to integrate the thought experiment as the characteristic feature of the promise of SF genre, as defined by François Jost. Finally, we will draft an analysis of several objects founded on five proposals and confirmed by a semantic / syntactic approach, inspired by Rick Altman’s works.
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