ON AN INCONSISTENCY IN CONSTRUCTIVE EMPIRICISM

I show that van Fraassen's empiricism leads to mutually incompatible c laims with regard to empirical theories. He is committed to the claim that reasons for accepting a theory and believing it are always identi cal, insofar as the theory in question is an empirical theory. He also makes a general claim that reasons for accepting a theory are not alw ays reasons for believing it irrespective of whether the theory is an empirical theory.