van Fraassen, Bas

"We understand nature by developing theories that organize empirical evidence."

"The constructive empiricist does not require the theories to be true, only empirically adequate."

"What science aims at is not truth but empirical adequacy."

"Belief in unobservables is not necessary for the success of science."

"We can accept a theory without believing it is true."

"The distinction between appearance and reality is crucial to understanding science."

"Observation itself is theory-laden; we never perceive the world directly."

"The old debate between realism and instrumentalism need not be settled absolutely."

"Science seeks models that match our experience, not necessarily reality itself."

"Empirical adequacy is a more modest aim than truth."

"We should be humble about what science can tell us regarding unobservable entities."

"The problem of underdetermination shows that evidence alone cannot determine truth."

"Our theories are tools for making sense of experience."

"Accepting a theory means it is empirically adequate to all possible experiences."

"The distinction between entity and fiction may be less sharp than we think."

"Scientific success need not imply that our theories describe reality as it is."

"What matters is whether our models work, not whether they are ultimately true."

"Constructive empiricism offers a middle ground between naive realism and pure skepticism."

"We must distinguish between what science says and what scientists believe."

"The universe as it is in itself may be forever beyond our grasp."

"Experience shapes our understanding more fundamentally than abstract theorizing."

"Explanation in science is not about revealing hidden causes, but about understanding patterns."

"The burden of proof lies with those claiming knowledge of the unobservable."

"Scientific models are best understood as fictions that serve practical purposes."

"We construct our picture of the world from experience, not discover it."

"The empirical success of a theory does not guarantee its truth."

"Quantum mechanics reveals the limits of our classical intuitions about reality."

"Belief and acceptance are different epistemic attitudes with different justifications."

"The structure we perceive in nature may reflect the structure of our minds."

"Scientific realism asks us to believe more than the evidence warrants."