intuition pump

English

Etymology

Coined by American philosopher Daniel Dennett.

Noun

intuition pump (plural intuition pumps)

  1. A type of thought experiment that leads to a specific conclusion through intuition.
    • 2011, Julian Baggini, Peter S. Fosl, The Philosopher's Toolkit: A Compendium of Philosophical Concepts and Methods, second edition, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 59:
      Intuition pumps, however, can lead us astray. Sometimes what is in fact no more than an intuition pump may appear to us as an argument.

Further reading

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