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Life Overview
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Birth
He was born in Goes, the Netherlands. His family then moved to Canada in 1956. -
Education and Schooling
Bas Van Fraassen received his Bachelors in philosophy from the University of Alberta in 1963 and then went on to receive his Masters in 1964 and his PHD in 1966 from the University of Pittsburgh -
Career
Bas was offered a position from Yale, where he stayed from 1966 to 1969. He also held positions at University of Toronto and University of Southern California before he eventually became a professor at Princeton. He became the McCosh Professor of Philosophy there. -
Recognized Work
Bas has published and written many books and articles in many different subjects, including philosophical logic, probability theory and epistemology, philosophy of art and literature, philosophy of religion, metaphysics and many other pieces of work. His main work that was recognized was for books and articles in the philosophy of science. -
The Scientific Image
Bas holds the position, that he calls "constructive empiricism", within the philosophy of science. Bas doesn't want to say that scientific theories cannot be true or false, but to say that science is used to make theories that can truly matter to things we can actually observe. -
Constructive Empiricism
Bas's view on constructive empiricism is not widely accepted, and it is surprising view to explain and defend, but he has done so with bold and creative arguments. This has caused his work to be widely discussed and debated in the philosophical community.