Learn To Think Using Thought Experiments: How to Expand Your Mental Horizons, Understand Metacognition, Improve Your Curiosity, and Think Like a Philosopher

perceptions (or indeed your anxiety) be fooling you right now? Can you find evidence that a person who doesn’t hate you could still act in that way? (Yes, you can—you did the same thing last week to someone you genuinely like). So, have you stumbled upon an unshakeable law of the universe or is it merely a thought your brain has come up with, beari

In considering any argument or point of view, ask yourself: How would the world have to be if my theory were true? Is the world that way? What does my argument imply? Are the implications desirable/logical/true? And if not, does it invalidate my original argument?

CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, is a little like having a mini skeptic on your shoulder. If

What are the differences between what we think we know and what we do actually know—and how could we ever measure the distance between the two?

and the Candushi tribe in Peru don’t even bother having words for colors.

A big part of a thought experiment is thoroughly considering the consequences and implications of certain conditions, actions or choices. It’s more along the lines

When was the last time you truly considered your alternatives, or any potential gaps or errors in your thinking? It can be one of the most difficult but also most illuminating exercises: What if you’re wrong, or only seeing a tiny part of the truth? What if your ideal solution is invisible to you right now?

our conceptions of reality are not identical with reality. Maps are, necessarily, simplified

They allow us to discover aspects of ourselves we might not have otherwise, and think of the ramifications of certain possible acts long before we are technologically capable of them.