Thought Experiment

Thought experimentation is a tool we philosophers often use in order to explore life, existence and the Universe without having to get out of our chairs. So let the experiment begin.

Suppose you look out of your bedroom window at 01:00 am, and see a naked man standing in the middle of your lawn. Let’s say you estimate his age to be somewhere between 65 and 75 years old. He is quite bald, and carrying a generous amount of weight, although not evenly distributed. A good proportion of it has been monopolised by his belly; mostly at the expense of his legs, which seem rather bandy. He has hairy shoulders. The street lamp right next to your garden is bathing him in a pool of light far brighter than you are comfortable with.

Okay, the scene for our thought experiment has now been set; let’s call it scenario 1 (S1).

Consider S1, but now the man is wearing ankle socks and sandals, just like the socks and sandals you can see being worn by men of this age on the streets of any popular British seaside resort. Let’s call this S1a.

For S1b, we have all the above, plus the addition of an umbrella, which the man is holding as if to shelter himself from heavy rain, even though it isn’t raining.

S1c sees our man as above, but also holding an over stuffed Teddy Bear -similar in scaled down proportions to the man himself- and also wearing socks and sandals.

S1d; as above, but there is also a tent and camping stove on your lawn.

That’s part one of the thought experiment, so make sure you’ve had a good think about it before we move on to part two.

Part two simply consists of two questions:

Q1. Up to what point of the scale from S1 to S1d would you just return to bed, hoping that everything would be back to normal in the morning?

Q2. After which point of the scale from S1 to S1d would you feel it necessary to take some sort of action?

As far as I know, this thought experiment has never been done before, so we are probably breaking new ground here.

Re: Thought Experiment

What if you live in a low rise, and the lawn is not yours as such, but you pay a maintenance charge, and the guy in the socks is a cohabitant who is a bit odd, so you have avoided communicating with?

Re: Thought Experiment

Interesting. Is there a period of time to think on this ?

Re: Thought Experiment

Are you Spitty Mk11?

Re: Thought Experiment

None of that makes any difference. This is a thought experiment, and you shouldn't be thinking any of that stuff.

Re: Thought Experiment

Q1 - I wouldn't.

Q2 - S1 - S1c - I would be concerned about his health and probably summon a Social Worker and/or Mental Health Team

Q2 S1d - I would be tempted to also call the Police to make sure there was no problem about evicting him.

Re: Thought Experiment

No, Zuleika, you are free to dwell on the scenarios I have given you for as long as you like. Depending on how much you like them, of course.

Re: Thought Experiment

Why? Does Spitty do thought experiments?

Re: Thought Experiment

I thought this exercise was a complete waste of time; then I realised I only thought I thought this was a complete waste of time - so having thought I thought, I thought I had better decide what thought I was going to act upon.

Now having had a good think about what I thought I thought, I thought it would be good thought to think this was indeed a waste of time, so I thought stuff it, I simply don't think I could be arsed with it all..............I think!

Re: Thought Experiment

Thanks, Tabby. Your answers will be put into a data base, along with everyone else's. It will be interesting to see what comes out when they've all been crunched.