Theorizing as the Thickness of Thin Abstraction

Abstract

We show how the thinness of abstract concepts in thought experiments may provide advantages typically associated with thick description. In addition, we show how the thin abstraction of thought experiments allows for the isolation and manipulation of important variables—a process that parallels the design features of actual experiments and, thus, also casts such empirical methodologies in a new light as modeling input to (rather than their data as output from) theorizing. We consider the implications of this type of theorizing for frame breaking and advancing conceptual developments, such as seen in recent work on trust.

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