Observability & Scientific Empiricism

Van Fraassen begins by considering the opposition between empiricism and realism, leading to a consideration of the nature of observability from an empirical standpoint. In part, difficulties over the issue of observability can be seen as deriving from the progress of science over time. In earlier periods, realists held sway and depended on observability--what they could see served as evidence. At some level, though, there are elements of scientific inquiry as of the real world around us which cannot be observed but which are no less vital and necessary as evidence in support of a theory. The early philosophers of science explained the regularities they could observe in nature. This approach was rejected by the nominalists for a number of reasons cited by Van Fraassen, such as the rejection of the Aristotelian world for epistemological reasons:

The observation of the phenomena did not point unambiguously to the supposed causal connections behind them. . . Subsequent scientists intent on clarifying the philosophical basis

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vable-unobservable distinction stands as the main target of Maxwell. The distinction was intended to differentiate between different types of knowledge. Those things that are observable are those things which are putative, things which we should be able to see if they existed. The act that we cannot observe them shows that they do not exist. The observable is that which should be ascertained by an unaided act of perception. That which requires calculation is unobservable. A linguistic distinction is made between observing (a thing, event, or process) and observing that (something or other is the case). Before we can observe that, we require a good deal of knowledge in order not only to see but to know what it is we do see, and the latter is information that cannot be acquired through perception. Maxwell makes two arguments against observability. The first is directed against the possibility of drawing such distinctions. The second is directed against the importance that could attach to those distinctions that can be drawn. First, Maxwell refers to the continuum of cases between direct observation and inference, finding that this list does not give us criteria which make it possible to draw a non-arbitrary line between o
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Approximate Word count = 1841
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)