Reviewed field guides
Thought experiments as instruments, not trivia.
Read the setup without JavaScript, then use a private reasoning tool to separate intuition, evidence and the rule behind your answer.
identity
The Ship of Theseus
If a ship is repaired plank by plank, what makes it remain the same ship—and what happens if the discarded planks are rebuilt?
Which ship has the stronger claim to be the original?
Does identity depend on material, continuity, function, history, or convention?
knowledge
Brain in a Vat
Could your experiences be produced by a computer while your brain floats in a laboratory—and what would that possibility show?
Does knowing something require ruling out every skeptical possibility?
Can evidence justify ordinary belief without creating absolute certainty?
ethics
The Trolley Problem
A runaway tram, five workers on one track, one person on the other—and a lever that decides who dies.
Does your verdict change between the switch and the footbridge case? Which distinction does the change follow?
Is the difference between killing and letting die morally decisive here?
appearance and reality
The Allegory of the Cave
Prisoners mistake shadows for the world; one escapes toward the sun—and then goes back down. Plato's image for education, reality, and the cost of returning.
Which of your settled beliefs function like shadows: reliable within their setting, untested against anything brighter?
Is learning closer to receiving information or to being reoriented?