[...]... the final essay in this part of the volume Psillos examines van Fraassen s ‘voluntarist’ notion of rationality This permissive notion of rationality has appeared throughout van Fraassen s work, and plays an important background role for van Fraassen s views about science and about empiricism Psillos takes issue with van Fraassen s account of rationality, arguing that it is too thin to capture rational... special reason to form beliefs about what we are capable of observing James Ladyman questions what epistemic reason van Fraassen has for focusingonempiricaladequacy.LadymancontrastsvanFraassen’sconstructive empiricism with a pragmatic empiricism, where one gives pragmatic, not epistemic, reasons for believing in the claims of a theory Ladyman suggests that van Fraassen does not give adequate justification... a philosophical stance, and more generally about what it is to have a philosophical stance at all It is clear that van Fraassen has synoptic ideas about the virtues of empiricism and the nature of philosophy, but it is not always clear what van Fraassen s ideas are The concluding essay, from van Fraassen, provides useful commentary on each of the preceding essays in this volume, as well as on van Fraassen s... Fraassen s stance empiricism Chakravartty also argues that van Fraassen does 6 / Introduction not make a strong case against metaphysics, since the argument against metaphysics has to happen at the level of meta -stances the level where one decides which stance to endorse Chakravartty maintains that, utilizing van Fraassen s own conception of rationality, metaphysicians are rational He holds that empiricists... approaches, and sometimes beliefs It is not just empiricism that is a stance, according to van Fraassen; many other philosophical positions are best understood as stances as well Van Fraassen positions empiricism in opposition to (pre-Kantian) metaphysics Specifically, part of the stance of empiricism is to reject forms of metaphysics that rely on demands for explanation Van Fraassen is sceptical of such demands,... that cannot and should not be objectified McMullin proposes that the discussion of emotion in conceptual shifts is relevant to van Fraassen s ideas about encountering God Anjan Chakravartty argues that the distinction between empiricism and metaphysics isn’t as clear as van Fraassen would like to believe Chakravartty maintains that almost all inquiry is metaphysical to a degree, including van Fraassen s... Empirical Stance In Part II of this volume, we turn to essays that discuss issues that arise in van Fraassen s general discussions of empiricism These essays focus on the Bradley Monton / 5 central suggestion of van Fraassen s The Empirical Stance, that empiricism should be construed not as a set of beliefs, but instead as a stance For van Fraassen, a stance is a cluster of attitudes, commitments, approaches,... Underdetermination Maarten Van Dyck 1 Anyone Can Read a Book Undoubtedly, The Scientific Image has been one of those few books that really had a profound impact on the philosophy of science during the last decades Exaggerating only a little, one could even say that trying to refute van Fraassen s position in that book soon became one of the standard exercises that one had to pass to qualify as a truly realist... is one of an attenuation of van Fraassen s position Andr´ Kukla sums up the situation as e follows: In 1980, constructive empiricism is presented as a conclusion that follows from arguments that ought to persuade any rational person to abandon realism In a 1985 reply to his critics, van Fraassen equivocates between the relatively strong claims of 1980 and the permissive turn in his epistemology that... science? Van Fraassen s answer is that one should endorse the doctrine of constructive empiricism: Science aims to give us theories which are empirically adequate; and acceptance of a theory involves as belief only that it is empirically adequate Van Fraassen s rough characterization of empirical adequacy is as follows: a theory is empirically adequate if and only if what it says about the observable things . volumes. Publications Of cer:M .A. Stewart Secretary: R. D. Hopkins Images of Empiricism Essays on Science and Stances, with a Reply from Bas C. van Fraassen Bradley Monton 1 1 Great Clarendon Street,. observing. James Ladyman questions what epistemic reason van Fraassen has for focusingonempiricaladequacy.LadymancontrastsvanFraassen’s constructive empiricism with a pragmatic empiricism, where one. same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by Laserwords Private Limited,