Quinn Lecture: Bas van Fraassen (Princeton)

The 13th Annual Quinn lecture will be held on December 2nd from 3-5 pm in DeBartolo Hall, room 138.  The Talk Title: Scientific Theories and Their Empirical Support. 

Abstract: As traditionally conceived, experimental support for a theory is a form of evidential support, and evidential support is a form of confirmation.  Disentangling this concept cluster, in part through a new appreciation of Newton's methodology and the development of post-Newtonian theories, was a developing story during the last fifty years.  I will argue for a clear separation between empirical support of theories and confirmation.