Theorizing as the Thickness of Thin Abstraction
论证思想实验中抽象概念的“薄”如何带来通常与“厚”描述相关的优势，并揭示其如何像真实实验一样隔离和操纵关键变量，从而为理论创新提供新视角。
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.