Bas C. Van Fraassen's Books

Scientific Representation

Paradoxes of Perspective

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

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Scientific Representation

Paradoxes of Perspective

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

Bas C. van Fraassen presents an original exploration of how we represent the world. Science represents natural phenomena by means of theories, as well as in many concrete ways by such means as pictures, graphs, table-top models, and computer simulations. Scientific Representation begins with an inquiry into the nature of representation in general, drawing on such diverse sources as Plato's dialogues, the development of perspectival drawing in the Renaissance, and the geometric styles of modelling in modern physics. Starting with Mach's and Poincaré's analyses of measurement and the 'problem of coordination', van Fraassen then presents a view of measurement outcomes as representations. With respect to the theories of contemporary science he defends an empiricist structuralist version of the 'picture theory' of science, through an inquiry into the paradoxes that came to light in twentieth-century philosophies of science. Van Fraassen concludes with an analysis of the complex relationship between appearance and reality in the scientific world-picture.

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422

Publisher

OUP Oxford

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191613746

ISBN 13

9780191613746

The Scientific Image

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

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The Scientific Image

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

The aim of The Scientific Image is to develop an empiricist alternative to both logical positivism and scientific realism. Against positivism, the author insists on a literal interpretation of the language of science, and on an irreducibly pragmatic dimension of theory acceptance. Against realism he argues that the central aim of science is empirical adequacy, and that the only belief involved in the acceptance of a scientific theory is belief that the theory fits the observable phenomena.To substatiate this, the book presents three mutually supporting theories concerning science. The first is an account of the relation between a scientific theory and the empirical world. The second is a new theory of explanation and why-questions, according to which the explanatory power of a theory is a pragmatic aspect which goes beyond its empirical import, but which provides no additional reasons for believing it. And the third is an interpretation of probability in physical theory, with reference to both classical and quantum physics. The presentation of these three central theses is preceded by two chapters which provide an informal introduction to current debates in the philosophy of science, particularly concerning scientific realism.

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Page Count

248

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198244274

ISBN 13

9780198244271

The Scientific Image

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

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The Scientific Image

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

In this book van Fraassen develops an alternative to scientific realism by constructing and evaluating three mutually reinforcing theories.

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260

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198244274

ISBN 13

9780198244271

Images of Science

Essays on Realism and Empiricism

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

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Images of Science

Essays on Realism and Empiricism

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

Churchland and Hooker have collected ten papers by prominent philosophers of science which challenge van Fraassen's thesis from a variety of realist perspectives. Together with van Fraassen's extensive reply . . . these articles provide a comprehensive picture of the current debate in philosophy of science between realists and anti-realists."—Jeffrey Bub and David MacCallum, Foundations of Physics Letters

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Page Count

320

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226106543

ISBN 13

9780226106540

The Empirical Stance

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

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The Empirical Stance

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

What is empiricism and what could it be? Bas C. van Fraassen, one of the world’s foremost contributors to philosophical logic and the philosophy of science, here undertakes a fresh consideration of these questions and offers a program for renewal of the empiricist tradition. The empiricist tradition is not and could not be defined by common doctrines, but embodies a certain stance in philosophy, van Fraassen says. This stance is displayed first of all in a searing, recurrent critique of metaphysics, and second in a focus on experience that requires a voluntarist view of belief and opinion. Van Fraassen focuses on the philosophical problems of scientific and conceptual revolutions and on the not unrelated ruptures between religious and secular ways of seeing or conceiving of ourselves. He explores what it is to be or not be secular and points the way toward a new relationship between secularism and science within philosophy.

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Page Count

302

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300127960

ISBN 13

9780300127966

Laws and Symmetry

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

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Laws and Symmetry

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

Metaphysicians speak of laws of nature in terms of necessity and universality; scientists do so in terms of symmetry and invariance. This book argues that no metaphysical account of laws can succeed. The author analyses and rejects the arguments that there are laws of nature, or that we must believe that there are. He argues that we should discard the idea of law as an inadequate clue to science. After exploring what this means for general epistemology, the book develops the empiricist view of science as a construction of models to represent the phenomena. Concepts of symmetry, transformation, and invariance illuminate the structure of such models. A central role is played in science by symmetry arguments, and it is shown how these function also in the philosophical analysis of probability. The advocated approach presupposes no realism about laws or necessities in nature.

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Page Count

410

Publisher

Clarendon Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191519995

ISBN 13

9780191519994

Scientific Representation

Paradoxes of Perspective

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

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Scientific Representation

Paradoxes of Perspective

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

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422

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OUP Oxford

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191613746

ISBN 13

9780191613746

The Empirical Stance

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

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The Empirical Stance

By: Bas C. van Fraassen

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302

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Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300127960

ISBN 13

9780300127966

Current Issues in Quantum Logic

By: Enrico G. Beltrametti,Bas C. van Fraassen

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Current Issues in Quantum Logic

By: Enrico G. Beltrametti,Bas C. van Fraassen

These are the proceedings of the Workshop on Quantum Logic held in Erice (Sicily), December 2 - 9, 1979, at the Ettore Hajorana Centre for Scientific Culture. A conference of this sort was originally proposed by Giuliano Toraldo di Francia, who suggested the idea to Antonino Zichichi, and thus laid the foundation for the Workshop. To both of them we express our appreciation and thanks, also on behalf of the other participants, for having made this conference possible. There were approximately fifty participants; their names and institutions are listed in the text. Quantum logic, which has now a history of some forty or more years, has seen remarkable growth during the sixties and seventies. The papers in the present volume presuppose, by and large, some acquaintance with the elements of the subject. These may be found in the well-known books by J.H. Jauch (Foundations of Quantum Hechanics; Reading, 1968), V.S. Varadarajan (Geometry of Quantum Theory: Princeton, 1968), and C. Piron (Foundations of Quantum Theory; New York, 1976). The initial program for the conference listed about twenty-five invited papers. But in the context of a very active and qualified attendance, other contributions were offered. This volume contains all of them. The program listed six main topics: I. Classification or different areas of quantum logic, and open problems. II. Comparison and unification of different approaches to quantum theories; problems of interpretation. III. Formal quantum logic; axiomatics. IV. Hodal interpretations of quantum logic. v vi FOREWORD V. Quantum set theory.

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Page Count

478

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1461332281

ISBN 13

9781461332282

Quantum Mechanics

An Empiricist View

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

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Quantum Mechanics

An Empiricist View

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

The author argues that quantum theory admits a plurality of interpretations, each aiding further understanding of the theory, but also advocating specifically the Copenhagen Variant of the Modal Interpretation. That variant is applied to topics like the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and the problem of 'identical' particles.

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562

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198239807

ISBN 13

9780198239802

Bas Van Fraassen

The Fortunes of Empiricism

By: Andreas Berg-Hildebrand,Christian Suhm

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Bas Van Fraassen

The Fortunes of Empiricism

By: Andreas Berg-Hildebrand,Christian Suhm

Participation in the Münstersche Vorlesungen zur Philosophie 2005 was an honor and a genuine intellectual pleasure for me. The symposium, with all its contributions by the Münster faculty and students, was a wonderfully valuable experience. I can hardly do justice to its spirit of free discussion, or adequately express my thanks, by these short replies. But I think that they will testify clearly to the stimulation the symposium provided and to how much I learned from this exchange." Bas van Fraassen

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Page Count

171

Publisher

de Gruyter

Published Date

ISBN 10

3110325322

ISBN 13

9783110325324

Quantum Mechanics

An Empiricist View

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

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Quantum Mechanics

An Empiricist View

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

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562

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198239807

ISBN 13

9780198239802

Images of Science

Essays on Realism and Empiricism

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

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Images of Science

Essays on Realism and Empiricism

By: Bas C. Van Fraassen

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

320

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226106543

ISBN 13

9780226106540

Book's by Bas C. Van Fraassen

Scientific Representation

Scientific Representation

The Scientific Image

The Scientific Image

The Scientific Image

The Scientific Image

Images of Science

Images of Science

The Empirical Stance

The Empirical Stance

Laws and Symmetry

Laws and Symmetry

Scientific Representation

Scientific Representation

The Empirical Stance

The Empirical Stance

Current Issues in Quantum Logic

Current Issues in Quantum Logic

Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics

Bas Van Fraassen

Bas Van Fraassen

Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics

Images of Science

Images of Science

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