bas van fraassen’s philosophy blog

The curious logic of falsifiability

The notion of falsifiability, which has had such a run for its money in philosophy of science, seems logically rather odd.  A hypothesis A is true or false, and perhaps it is made true or false by some fact, such as the fact that A.  But this bit of logic or semantics was not what was in…

by Bas van Fraassen

Trees of Porphyry

Taxonomy is a subject in traditional and modern logic.  Richmond Thomason (1969)   approached it using concepts from algebra, and I will follow suit.  But my conception is somewhat different from his; I will provide a point-by-point comparison with his below.   1.      Porphyry the Phoenician Systematic taxonomy, like so much else, begins with Aristotle. In Porphyry’s Isagoge, his introduction to Aristotle’s Categories, we…

by Bas van Fraassen

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2 thoughts on “bas van fraassen’s philosophy blog”

  1. Dear Prof van Fraassen,

    In modern science there is a shift in focus from final causes to the search for efficient/mechanical causes. People spoke about “laws” of nature and extended this view to human society. August Comte represents this view and via him it influenced sociology (Emile Durkheim) and perhaps also public relations (Edward Bernays).  Could you comment upon this?

    Thank you.

    Leendert Brouwer

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  2. I think that:

    – knowledge starts with the experience of facts of Nature,

    – we can formulate hypotheses, but as long as they are not confirmed by asking Nature, they are just hypotheses,

    – Nature doesn’t have to answer all of our questions to her,

    – sometimes we don’t get an answer from Nature,

    – when we don’t get an answer, this is never a license to invent an answer,

    – the only decent attitude is recognize “I don’t know” and stop there.

    (I’m skipping identifying the “metaphysical” positions in all this, which I’ll deny is metaphysics at all, but will accept as “hypotheses” till verified)

    Am I a constructive empiricist?

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