Meriti e demeriti dell'empirismo costruttivo di Bas van Fraassen

Constructive empiricism affirms that science aims to give us theories that are empirically adequate, that is, coherent with the observable phenomena. Unlike sci entific realism, according to which we should believe scientific theories when they give us good reason to think that they are true, constructive empiricism, as articu lated and defended by Bas van Fraassen, proposes a broader scientific rationality and, in particular, refers to the obligations of being a scientific agent. Thanks to its epistemological modesty, constructive empiricism represents an effective response to scepticism, which puts into question the theoretical assumptions of scientific prac tice; first of all, the idea that the success of a theory should involve its acceptance, truth and belief. In spite of its pragmatic gains, constructive empiricism has a naive approach to metaphysics that, while not being considered completely meaningless, is held to be a useless formal game.