Theorizing as the Thickness of Thin Abstraction

It is shown how the thinness of abstract concepts in thought experiments may provide advantages typically associated with thick description. In addition, it is shown 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 theorizing. The implications of this type of theorizing are considered for frame breaking and advancing conceptual developments, such as seen in recent work on trust.