A Neglected Chapter in the History of Philosophy of Mathematical Thought Experiments: Insights from Jean Piaget’s Reception of Edmond Goblot

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, prominent authors including Jean Piaget have drawn attention to Edmond Goblot's account of mathematical thought experi¬ments. But his contribution to today's debate has been neglected so far. The main goal of this article is to reconstruct and discuss Goblot's account of logical operations (the term he used for thought experiments in mathematics) and its interpretation by Piaget against the theoretical background of two open questions in today's debate: (1) the re¬lationship between empirical and mathematical thought experiments and (2) the ques¬tion of whether mathematical thought experiments can play a justificatory function in proofs. The main corollary of this analysis is that Piaget's interpretation is seriously flawed and insufficiently appreciative of important theses of Goblot's account. First, Goblot can be easily defended against Piaget's main criticism, and second, Goblot developed ideas about mathematical thought experiments that still deserve attention.