ABSTRACT
Thought experimentation plays a pivotal role both in philosophical speculation and in philosophical elucidation. Throughout the present deliberations, there is constantly occasion for thought experimentation across the whole range of philosophical deliberation. As emphasized throughout in this chapter, ground rules of factual and fictional discourse are altogether distinct. They have very different aims and objectives in view—to elucidate reality on the one hand, and on the other to project imaginative possibilities for their own intrinsic interest. And so in the present era the boundary between reality and irreality becomes increasingly fuzzy as people become so enmeshed in artifice as to become unable to discern the difference. Recourse to reality-surrogates that make it difficult to discern the boundary line between actuality and artifice is of course nothing new. And this amplification has brought about a change in people's attitudes as well. As reality-respect becomes increasingly less common, people naturally adjust to this state of things and lower their expectations in response.
