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Bas Van Fraassen
Bastiaan Cornelius Van Fraassen was born in Goes, Netherlands.
at the time Netherlands was occupied by Germany, and his family was split up by the war. After reuniting, they moved to Canada. -
Masters
Van Fraassen earned his bachelors in Philosophy at the University of Alberta in 1963, then earned his masters by 1964. -
Doctorate
Van Fraassen continued his education at the University of Pittsburgh, earning his doctorate in philosophy. -
The Scientific Image
In the Scientific Image, Van Fraassen disagrees with realism and creates his most well known philosophy: constructive empiricism. It means that, "Science aims to give us theories which are empirically adequate; and acceptance of a theory involves as belief only that it is empirically adequate." -
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History as a Professor
Van Fraassen taught courses on philosophy throughout 1982 to 2008. Among the prestigious universities he taught were Yale University, University of Southern California, University of Toronto, and Princeton University. -
Journals
Van Fraassen has been an editor to both the Journal Of Philosophical Logic and the Journal Of Symbolical Logic, where he contributed to creating new logical formulas -
Laws And Symmetry
In Laws and Symmetry Van Fraassen made arguments against the current methods of science in which laws of physics are created, stating that while theories can be found empirical, since they don't always fit together we can't ascribe a solid set of rules to our reality. -
What Are The Scopes And Limits Of Science?
Van Fraassen began to make appearances on a talk show called Closer To The Truth, where many interviewees from all professions give their life's work a summary and explanation. Van Fraassen is known for his ideas that we will never fully come to understand science empirically, and should instead aim to find the most adequate answers we can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brAOVfAoimQ -
Current Life
Van Fraassen currently loves to explore his favorite passions, hiking and rock climbing in his retirement from full-time work. He also has a particular fondness for cats, and remembers the name of every cat he has owned. It is unknown whether or not he will publish anything new, but he is enjoying his life to the fullest.