hypotheticals
What-if thought experiments
Hypotheticals are imagined scenarios used to explore possibilities, test reasoning, or consider consequences: Let's not deal in hypotheticals—what are the actual facts?
The word often carries a dismissive edge, suggesting speculation disconnected from reality.
In law, hypotheticals are posed to witnesses or students to probe the limits of rules or arguments.
Conditional clause marker
- thenAt that time
- supposeAccept as true tentatively
- assumingAccepting as true unverified
- contingencyUncertain possible event
premise · supposition · proviso · stipulation · eventuality · possibility · dependency · qualification
Representation or paradigm
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
- frameworkUnderlying support system
- postulateAssumed starting point
- axiomSelf-evident starting principle
theorem · principle · conjecture · deduction · inference · construct · idealization · assumption
Imaginative mental wandering
- fictionImagined narrative work
- make-believeImaginative play or fantasy
- inventedCreated something new
- fictitiousNot real, invented
dreamlike · fantastical · speculative · imagined · fabricated · unreal · pretend · daydream
Imitation of real processes
- roleplayAdopt another's perspective
- dilemmaForced choice between undesirables
- forecastingEstimating future conditions
- storyboardingSequencing shots through drawings
Theory of knowledge
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- counterfactualContrary-to-fact supposition
- idealismBelief in noble principles
- solipsismOnly self surely exists
dialectics · syllogism · reductio · absurdity · ethics · utilitarianism
if
Conditional clause marker
contingency · premise · supposition · proviso · stipulation · eventuality · possibility · dependency · qualification · caveat
model
Representation or paradigm
- abstractionDistilling to essential qualities
- frameworkUnderlying support system
- postulateAssumed starting point
axiom · theorem · principle · conjecture · deduction · inference · construct · idealization · assumption · proposition
fantasy
Imaginative mental wandering
- fictionImagined narrative work
- make-believeImaginative play or fantasy
- inventedCreated something new
fictitious · dreamlike · fantastical · speculative · imagined · fabricated · unreal · pretend · daydream · fanciful
simulation
Imitation of real processes
- roleplayAdopt another's perspective
- dilemmaForced choice between undesirables
- forecastingEstimating future conditions
epistemology
Theory of knowledge
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- counterfactualContrary-to-fact supposition
- idealismBelief in noble principles
solipsism · dialectics · syllogism · reductio · absurdity · ethics · utilitarianism
- What Could Happenoutcomes, scenarios, possibilities, probabilities, consequences
- conditionalsif, then, if clause, if clauses, else
- philosophy questionsthought experiments, trolley problem, ship of Theseus, philosophical questions, moral dilemmas
- modalitycan, modals, could, may, might
- Socratic questioningclarifying questions, counterexamples
- imaginary thingsfantasies, imaginary friends, imaginary worlds, make-believe, make believe
hypotheticalsactualities
Existing states of affairs
realities · facts · certainties · knowns · hard facts
- hypothetically speaking
- hypothetical scenarioImagined situation for reasoning