Great Thought Experiments
Explore the boundaries of logic, ethics, and reality through history's most famous mental simulations. Challenge your intuition and learn how philosophers and scientists use 'Gedankenexperiments' to solve the unsolvable.
Like Duolingo, but for Great Thought Experiments. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
54 levels across 4 sections, about 108 minutes end to end, roughly 22 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Identity and the Self, Ethics and Moral Dilemmas, The Nature of Mind and Knowledge, and Physics and the Fabric of Reality. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Great Thought Experiments
- Numerical identity
- Qualitative identity
- Spatio-temporal continuity
- Material origin
- Mereological essentialism relates identity to specific parts
- The distinction between numerical and qualitative identity
- Functionalism focuses on the role an object plays
- Aristotelian 'form' refers to the structure or design
- The conflict between spatio-temporal continuity and original components
- Matter refers to the physical substance
- Mapping philosophical theories of identity to their definitions
- The philosophical preference for form over matter in identity
- The problem applies to any entity undergoing gradual part replacement
- Biological organisms and evolving organizations share this identity paradox
- The 'person' follows the consciousness and memory
- The physical body is merely the 'man' or biological vessel
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Great Thought Experiments the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
If we ask whether a ship remains the 'same' after a repair, which type of identity are we investigating?
Get it right to open this lesson and 53 more in the app.
How to learn Great Thought Experiments, step by step
Go in order. 54 short levels across 4 sections, about 1 hour 48 minutes in all, five minutes a day.
- 1
Identity and the Self
- The Ship of Theseus
- Locke’s Prince and the Cobbler
- Parfit’s Teletransporter Paradox
- The Brain in a Vat
- 2
Ethics and Moral Dilemmas
- The Classic Trolley Problem
- Foot’s Transplant Scenario
- The Survival Lottery
- Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance
- The Experience Machine
- Thomson’s Violinist
- 3
The Nature of Mind and Knowledge
- Mary’s Room (The Knowledge Argument)
- Searle’s Chinese Room
- The Philosophical Zombie
- 4
Physics and the Fabric of Reality
- Maxwell’s Demon
- Schrödinger’s Cat
- Einstein’s Chasing a Light Beam
- The Twin Paradox
- Laplace’s Demon
4 sections · 18 units · 54 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Questions about Great Thought Experiments
How do I learn Great Thought Experiments?
Go in order: start with Identity and the Self, then Ethics and Moral Dilemmas, then The Nature of Mind and Knowledge, then Physics and the Fabric of Reality. On Tomo that's 54 short levels, about 1 hour 48 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.
Is there a Duolingo-style app for Great Thought Experiments?
Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Great Thought Experiments is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.
Is the Great Thought Experiments course free?
Yes. Great Thought Experiments is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.
How long does it take to learn Great Thought Experiments?
54 levels across 4 sections, about 1 hour 48 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.
Do I need any background to start Great Thought Experiments?
No. It's pitched at an intermediate level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Great Thought Experiments is taught in the Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Great Thought Experiments today.
Download Tomo, search Great Thought Experiments, and play your first lesson in under a minute.