The Scientific Image (Clarendon Library Of Logic And Philosophy) Paperback – 2 Oct. 1980

Isn't this exactly what science is? Isn't this exactly how the logic of statistics works? I'm surprised that anybody can believe in scientific realism after reading this.

The book came promptly, as advertised, but through no fault of Amazon had series printing errors. Somepages had white margins down the centre making the text illegible in some cases.

Although twenty years old, Van Fraassen's constructive empiricism is still one of the most appealing options in the realism/empiricism-debate. Van Fraassen holds a scientific realism for observable phenomena, but if two scientific theories are both adequate in explaining the observable, it's only a matter of pragmatic virtues to choose between them.This seems plausible. In science unobservable objects are postulated to explain the observable. As such, they can hardly be considered "real" in the same way as observable ones.Naturally the main problem in Van Fraassen's theory is explaining the difference between observable and unobservable phenomena. Surprisingly, he leaves the problem for empirical science and goes on explaining his philosophical standpoints as if the problem had been solved. This, of course, is far from the truth. For instance, evidence of many objects in astronomy can only be derived from other observations. Still, it doesn't seem to be just a pragmatic question whether there are, for example, planets outside of our solar system.Van Fraassen's main idea is to combine realistic and pragmatic viewpoints by the scientific object's empirical status. Being a realist for observable objects and a pragmaticist for unobservable objects, he names himself a constructive empiricist for scientific objects in general. As such, it's an intriguing crossover between epistemological positions...and very much a common sense one as well.Also notable is Van Fraassen's ability to present complex philosophical viewpoints in an understandable manner. His introduction to scientific realism is one of the best I've read.

From van Frassen's perspective, science is concerned with the development of scientific models for understanding and controlling reality. The model does not have to be 'true', as the believers in scientific realism seem to believe, but it has to be testable against empirical evidence. The success of science should not and cannot be explained by refering to how current knowledge is closer to the truth, but by the fact that our models are better at explaining and predicting. When space probes report data about planets beyond our solar system, they are not explaining the 'truth', they are providing data that we can use for improving our models of the universe. Scientific theories contain statements about scientific models, not about the 'real world'. Truth is a concept that applies to logic and mathematics, and makes little sense for discussing the real world. What is important in science is the validity of the models being used, which van Fraasen describes as whether the models are empirically adequate or not.

Good.

I do not want to refer to the contents, but I am very disappointed with the quality of the print regarding the price. The print looks like a cheap xerox, with some symbols (mostly indices) unreadable. I had the chance to look at a first edition which looked perfectly fine. For reading quality I suggest looking for a used first edition, your eyes will thank you...