CF

The Power of Thought Experiments

11h 54m 19s
English
Paid
Updated September 2026

The Power of Thought Experiments is a 24-lesson 11 hours 54 minutes self-paced course by Daniel Breyer, Wondrium (The Great Courses). A well-built thought experiment can do what no lab test can: put you inside a question about your own mind.

Course facts

Lessons
24
Duration
11 hours 54 minutes
Level
All levels
Language
English
Updated
2026-09-11
Instructor
Daniel Breyer, Wondrium (The Great Courses)
Price
Premium

A well-built thought experiment can do what no lab test can: put you inside a question about your own mind. Daniel Breyer guides 24 lectures built entirely around these experiments, used by philosophers to push at the edges of what we know about ourselves and reality.

  • Personal identity and what makes you the same person over time
  • Special relativity and quantum mechanics, approached through imagination rather than equations
  • Whether our choices are truly our own, and what that means for moral responsibility
  • What actually makes a life worth living

Each lecture invites you to run the experiment yourself before seeing where history's great thinkers took it.

Who teaches The Power of Thought Experiments?

Daniel Breyer

Daniel Breyer thumbnail

Daniel Breyer is an educator focused on the practical craft of structured thinking — particularly the use of thought experiments as a deliberate tool for clarifying problems and exploring conceptual edges in everyday and professional decision-making.

His CourseFlix listing carries The Power of Thought Experiments — a structured walkthrough of the thought-experiment tradition across philosophy, science, and decision theory, with practical patterns for using them in everyday thinking.

Material is paid and aimed at general adult learners interested in better thinking practice. The course sits in the broader Soft Skills & Communication catalog on CourseFlix.

Wondrium (The Great Courses)

Wondrium (The Great Courses) thumbnail

Wondrium (formerly The Great Courses Plus and originally The Great Courses) is a US online education platform that has been publishing university-level video lecture series since 1990. The platform's distinctive contribution is the depth and production quality of its courses — each is taught by a tenured university professor with the production values of a documentary series, not a YouTube tutorial.

The catalog covers academic disciplines rather than technical-skill training: history, philosophy, science, mathematics, literature, music theory, religion, economics. Material is taught by faculty from Stanford, Yale, Princeton, the University of Chicago, MIT, and similar institutions. Wondrium is typically used by intellectually-curious adult learners filling in the liberal-arts side of their education.

The CourseFlix listing under this source carries over 19 Wondrium / Great Courses titles spanning that range — sitting in the broader CourseFlix catalog as general-interest reference rather than as a software-engineering track. Material is paid; Wondrium itself runs on a monthly / annual subscription on the original platform.

What lessons are included in The Power of Thought Experiments?

This is a demo lesson (10:00 remaining)

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#1: 1. How thought experiments work
All Course Lessons (24)
#Lesson TitleDurationAccess
1
1. How thought experiments work Demo
24:43
2
2. Saving others or letting them die
28:52
3
3. What the trolley problem reveals about you
27:22
4
4. Suppose you're impartial; Suppose you care
27:02
5
5. Unmasking the hidden pitfails of testimony
30:13
6
6. Can you time-travel and change the past
28:04
7
7. Paradoxes as mental workouts
30:53
8
8. What Newcomb's paradox says about decisions
29:56
9
9. Stories as thought experiments
29:08
10
10. Einstein's revolutionary thought experiments
31:57
11
11. Galileo's and Schrodinger's thought experiments
33:16
12
12. What makes identify the same over time
31:26
13
13. Mind swapping and personal identity
27:34
14
14. Who are you after a brain transplant
29:11
15
15. Who are you right now
30:24
16
16. Exploring the mysteries of consciousness
31:18
17
17. When are you morally responsible
30:30
18
18. How luch changes moral thought experiments
31:21
19
19. Challenging whether you have free will
31:59
20
20. Suppose you're immortal. What do you value
26:29
21
21. Visit twin earth to explore meaning
24:06
22
22. How do you know when you know something
32:42
23
23. How to create civilization from chaos
32:26
24
24. Thought experiments as a way of life
33:27
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Frequently asked questions

What are the prerequisites for enrolling in this course?
There are no formal prerequisites for this course. It is designed for anyone with an interest in philosophy and thought experiments. A general curiosity about subjects like personal identity, moral responsibility, and the nature of reality will be beneficial as you engage with the material.
What can I expect to build or develop during the course?
The course focuses on developing your analytical and critical thinking skills by engaging with thought experiments. You will explore various scenarios that challenge your understanding of concepts like free will, personal identity, and moral responsibility, enhancing your ability to think logically and philosophically about complex topics.
Who is the target audience for this course?
This course is aimed at individuals interested in philosophy, ethics, and the history of ideas. Whether you are a student, a professional, or someone with a general interest in philosophical questions, you will find value in examining the thought experiments presented by historical thinkers.
How does this course compare to other philosophy courses in terms of depth?
This course offers a unique approach by focusing specifically on thought experiments as a method of philosophical inquiry. While it covers a range of topics from personal identity to quantum mechanics, the course is structured around analyzing and understanding these subjects through the lens of thought experiments, providing a different perspective compared to traditional philosophy courses.
What specific tools or platforms are explored in the course?
The course does not utilize specific physical tools or digital platforms. Instead, it engages with intellectual tools like thought experiments themselves, such as the Trolley Problem, Newcomb's Paradox, and Einstein's thought experiments, to explore and understand philosophical concepts.
What topics are explicitly not covered in this course?
While the course covers a wide range of philosophical topics, it does not delve into detailed technical analyses of scientific theories or comprehensive historical accounts of philosophical movements. The focus remains on using thought experiments to explore philosophical questions, rather than covering exhaustive philosophical or scientific theories.
How much time should I expect to commit to this course?
The course consists of 24 lessons, each designed to be engaging and thought-provoking. While the total runtime is not specified, you should anticipate spending several hours on each lesson to fully engage with the thought experiments and reflect on the philosophical questions they raise.