An Inquiry Into Mental Variation

This book examines the method of mental variation traditionally used predominantly in phenomenology and philosophy of science. The chapters include a discussion of Locke's understanding of how the mind works and the possible role of variation in the empiricist model of acquisition of knowledge as well a discussion of Husserl's idea of free variation and Reinach's extension of Husserl's method. Finally there is a discussion of variation in Cognitive Science as well as a discussion of Ernest Mach's understanding of variation in thought experiments.