ABSTRACT
From Lucretius’ spear modification of Archytas’ fourth century BC thought experiment about the size of the universe to David Bohm’s modification of the EPR Gedankenexperiment about the completeness of quantum mechanics, historical research has revealed that, similarly to physical experiments, thought experiments can be replicated, reworked, and even retooled for very different ends by different thinkers at different times. 1 This historical insight raises the philosophical question of what is to count as the same thought experiment. Can one identify identity conditions for thought experiments? How similar do two narratives need to be in order to count as the same thought experiment? Can two thinkers perform the same thought experiment, and yet reach different conclusions?
