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Education and Teaching Career
Van Fraassen earned his B.A. in Philosophy in 1963 from the University of Alberta, and then he continued his education and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh in 1964 and 1966. From 1982 to 2008 he taught at various different universities including Yale University and Princeton. -
The Scientific Image
Van Fraassen published his famous book in 1980 called The Scientific Image which talks about constructive empiricism and how it relates to scientific anti-realism. Through this publication he is credited with revitalizing scientific anti-realism and there has since been an ongoing debate within the philosophy of science community on whether or not constructive empiricism is true or false (Monton, 2017). -
Laws and Symmetry
In 1989, van Fraassen published another widely known book called Laws and Symmetry. In this work he continues to elaborate on his anti-realist views of science which were introduced in his previous publication. In this particular book he targets the laws which are used to explain scientific theories and the notion of physical necessity and argues that laws do not adequately describe the way science functions and claims that they do not even play a role in the process of science (Osler, 2012). -
Professional Activities
Van Fraassen is an active editor of the Journal of Philosophical Logic and a co-editor of the Journal of Symbolic Logic. He is also a member of several associations/groups including the Philosophy of Science Association and the International Union for History and Philosophy of Science.