Scientific representation: paradoxes of perspective

423 Pages·2008·1.472 MB·English

by  Van Fraassen, Bas C

Scientific Representation: Paradoxes of Perspective
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Scientific Representation:
Paradoxes of Perspective
Bas C. van Fraassen
CLARENDON PRESS · OXFORD
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for
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and the memory of
Dina Landman van Fraassen
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Preface
When I began to rewrite the Locke Lectures I gave in Oxford in 2001
I found the comments I received leading me into new paths, some quite
unexpected. My main concern had been, and remained, the possibilities
for an empiricist version of structuralism in philosophy of science. But
how I came to conceive of those possibilities was altered first of all
by closer contact with the revivals of transcendentalist and neo-Kantian
thought, and secondly by the lively and growing interest I encountered in
technology, instruments, and experimental practices both in contrast with,
and complementary to, philosophical reflection on scientific theories.
Not all of my debts will appear explicitly in the text. I am thankful
especially for the great good fortune I had to meet Isabelle Peschard,
my main interlocutor on both these subjects. My thanks also to the
writings,helpfuldiscussion,andcorrespondenceofMichelBitbol,Michael
Friedman, Alan Richardson, and Thomas Ryckman for more insight
into the neo-Kantian tradition, and to Mieke Boon, Nancy Cartwright,
Margaret Morrison, and Hans Radder for discussions of instruments and
experimentation. These debts are in addition to many debts, accumulated
with respect to structural realism and surrounding topics, to Jeffrey Bub,
Jeremy Butterfield, Otávio Bueno, Chris Fuchs, Hans Halvorson, James
Ladyman, Bradley Monton, Carlo Rovelli, and Simon Saunders. On the
subject of representation in the sciences, as will be quite clear, I have
substantial debts to Ronald Giere and Paul Teller. In addition, Bradley
Monton and Paul Teller went through an early manuscript version with a
finetoothcombandmademanyvaluabledetailedcommentsonthetext.I
ampainfully aware that I owe moredebts tomore people than I canrelate
here. But my greater debt, beyond words, is to Isabelle Peschard.
ThemainadditiontothelockelecturescomesinPartTwo,onmeasure-
ment as representation, which is also the more technical part of the book.
While in any logical ordering this material precedes the third and fourth
parts, the less patient reader may wish to skip ahead to them.
viii 
The generous sabbatical and leave policy of Princeton University, a
splendid yearatthe Center for Advanced Study inthe Behavioral Sciences
inStanford,andthehospitalityenjoyedatAllSoulsandMagdalenColleges
inOxford,theCREA(CentredeRechercheenEpistémologieAppliquée)
inParis,andtheUniversityofTwenteintheNetherlands,aswellasSenior
ScholarAwardSES-0549002fromtheNationalScienceFoundation,made
this work possible. My special thanks to Ralph Walker, Jean Petitot, and
Philip Brey for making me welcome at their institutions in Oxford, Paris,
and Twente respectively.
Bas C. van Fraassen
List of Figures
2.1. ReflectionandRefraction 44
3.1. PerspectiveAltimetry 62
3.2. WindowandCheckerboard 63
3.3. Du¨rer,TheDraughtsmenoftheLute 65
3.4. FrameofReference.Perspective 67
3.5. SpeedinPerspective 68
3.6. CrossRatioInvariance 73
4.1. GeometryoftheRainbow 102
4.2. ImageCategories 104
6.1. MeasurementSchema 147
6.2. CoherenceofMeasurement 153
8.1. AdequacyasSymmetry 196
10.1. Putnam’sParadox 230
12.1. Copernicus’sModelofRetrogradeMotion 288
13.1. FailureofSupervenience 293