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/9780199218844.003.0005
 

Alexander Bird
This chapter shows that the sceptical empiricist argument, and by extension any argument like it, fails. It considers the concept of evidence, endorsing Williamson's view that all and only knowledge is evidence, (E=K). In particular, it considers the alternative view that only observational knowledge is evidence. Bas van Fraassen's constructive empiricism is then studied. Some commentators employ a caricature of constructive empiricism that takes the same argument. In fact, van Fraassen is careful to distance himself from scepticism about theories and to take constructive empiricism to be a view about the aim of science. It is argued that van Fraassen ought to be committed to the sceptical conclusion, and that constructive empiricism is implicitly committed to the above argument.
Keywords: constructive empiricism, Williamson, underdetermination, observable knowledge, epistmic scepticism, sceptical empiricist argument
doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199218844.003.0005
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Part I The Scientific Image
Part II The Empirical Stance
Part III Van Fraassen's Reply