Images of Empiricism
Essays on Science and Stances, with a Reply from Bas C. van Fraassen
Monton, Bradley University of Colorado at Boulder
Print publication date: 2007 (this edition)
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2008
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-19-921884-4
doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199218844.003.0002
 

Maarten Van Dyck
This chapter examines the arguments van Fraassen gives for constructive empiricism. Van Fraassen is often presented as giving some version of the argument from underdetermination: the argument which holds that since theories always have empirically equivalent rivals, empirical evidence can never adjudicate between a theory and its rivals, and hence belief in any theory is unfounded. It is argued that van Fraassen does not give any version of the argument from underdetermination, and that the argument from underdetermination is incompatible with van Fraassen's epistemological views.
Keywords: Bas van Fraassen, underdetermination, constructive empiricism, voluntarism, The Scientific Image
doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199218844.003.0002
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Part I The Scientific Image
Part II The Empirical Stance
Part III Van Fraassen's Reply