What role do hypothetical situations play in philosophy? For example; most of us

What role do hypothetical situations play in philosophy? For example; most of us

What role do hypothetical situations play in philosophy? For example; most of us consider it to be a moral axiom that paedophilia is never morally justified. But we can think of a hypothetical situation, for example person X being forced to engage in acts of paedophilia by a demented individual who threatens to kill a child if person X does not engage in lascivious acts with the child. Now this hypothetical situation is wildly speculative and extremely unlikely to ever occur in the real world. So does it disprove the axiom that paedophilia is never morally justified or not?

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