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

• intuition pump on Wikipedia.Wikipedia