What if...
But be warned: Once you start pulling on the threads of "What If," your everyday reality may never feel quite as solid again. And that, as any philosopher will tell you, is precisely the point. What If...- Collected Thought Experiments In Philosophy.pdf
Because the ultimate purpose of these imaginative exercises is not to find answers—it is to discover better questions. The PDF is not a destination. It is a permission slip to think the unthinkable, to hold reality at arm’s length, and to whisper the two most dangerous words in philosophy: What if
Perhaps the most emotionally charged thought experiments appear in moral philosophy. is a famous response to anti-abortion arguments. She asks: What if you wake up to find yourself attached, without your consent, to a famous unconscious violinist whose survival depends on your kidneys for nine months? Are you morally obligated to stay attached? Most people say no. Thomson uses this analogy to argue that even if a fetus is a person with a right to life, that right does not automatically override the pregnant person’s right to bodily autonomy. The thought experiment does not settle the abortion debate, but it reframes it, exposing a hidden assumption that “right to life” means “right to use another’s body without consent.” Because the ultimate purpose of these imaginative exercises
If you answer yes, then physicalism (the idea that everything is physical) is false. There are non-physical facts—qualia, the raw feel of experience. The PDF would then present the counterarguments, including the "ability hypothesis" (Mary only gains an ability, not a fact), but it would not let you off the hook easily. A follow-up experiment: What if Mary sees red, but the rose is actually blue? That’s a different PDF entirely.