Page "Thought experiment" Paragraph 57

Some thought experiments present scenarios that are not nomologically possible.

In his Twin Earth thought experiment, Hilary Putnam asks us to imagine a scenario in which there is a substance with all of the observable properties of water ( e. g., taste, color, boiling point ), but which is chemically different from water.

It has been argued that this thought experiment is not nomologically possible, although it may be possible in some other sense, such as metaphysical possibility.

It is debatable whether the nomological impossibility of a thought experiment renders intuitions about it moot.