van Fraassen, Bas

"To be rational is not to be certain, but to proportion belief to evidence."

"Empirical success often outpaces our understanding of why theories work."

"We are finite creatures trying to understand an infinite universe with finite tools."

"Knowledge grows not by adding facts but by reconceptualizing them."

"The question of what exists is not always answerable by science alone."

"Observations are never theory-neutral; they always carry conceptual baggage."

"Wisdom lies in knowing what we cannot know, and why."

"Our frameworks for understanding shape what we can perceive."

"Realism about unobservables is an optional add-on to scientific success."

"The history of science is a history of revised observational standards."

"Intellectual honesty requires admitting when phenomena exceed our understanding."

"All knowledge is interpretation through the lens of human conceptual schemes."

"Science provides empirically adequate models, and that may be all we need."

"The practicing scientist need not solve all philosophical problems about science."

"We must learn to live with uncertainty in matters of fact and value."

"Understanding is achieved through dialogue, not through passive reception."

"The debate between scientific realism and empiricism remains vitally important."

"Every observation is an interpretation of natural phenomena."

"Acceptance is different from belief, and this difference matters."

"Knowledge claims must be disciplined by attention to evidence and logic."

"Empiricism is not skepticism; it is responsible faith in human inquiry."

"The limits of observation are also limits on what science can establish."

"The human search for truth is noble precisely because it may never be complete."

"Learning changes not just what we know but how we understand."

"Philosophy of science is science reflecting on itself."

"Empirical adequacy is sufficient for scientific purposes."

"Wisdom teaches us to respect what we do not know."

"Knowledge requires both evidence and interpretation, both data and meaning."

"The empiricist thinks that science aims at truth, but the constructive empiricist thinks it aims at empirical adequacy."

"To accept a theory is not to believe it is true, but to believe it is empirically adequate."