125 - Bas van Fraassen: Realism, Thomas Kuhn, and the Semantic Approach in Philosophy of Science

Bas van Fraassen is the McCosh Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University and a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University. In addition to being one of the most recognized philosophers of science working today—he received the Philosophy of Science Association’s inaugural Hempel Award—he has also worked in epistemology and logic. In this episode, Bas and Robinson discuss a major shift in the philosophy of science in the second half of the twentieth century from the view of the logical positivists, who had a formal, mathematical approach, to philosophers who adopted the semantic approach, which more closely aligned with how working scientists viewed and experienced the field. Some other issues touched on include scientific realism, Thomas Kuhn and The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and interpretations of quantum mechanics.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:51 Introduction

03:47 An Interest in the Philosophy of Science

06:44 Logical Positivism

19:56 What is Scientific Realism?

30:56 Kuhn and The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

39:13 The Semantic Approach 

54:49 The Quantum Mechanics Interpretation Wars

01:08:12 Mathematical Models

01:12:31 Epistemology

Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.