Those less hostile to metaphysics than Van Fraassen will object that he has just missed Lewis's point since Lewis does not mean to be addressing the empirical problem of language-learning.
What's the empirical problem?
Generally speaking problems with unfalsifiable hypotheses require something other than the conjectures-and-refutations recipe for reliable methods (this assertion hinges on what exactly one means by "falsifiable hypothesis"; see Section 3 (The Limits of Inquiry and the Complexity of Empirical Problems) as well as [Schulte and Juhl 1996]).
A more systematic account of these ideas is given by Laudan (1977): the problem-solving effectiveness of a theory is defined by the number and importance of solved empirical problems minus the number and importance of the anomalies and conceptual problems that the theory generates.
In the context of clinical care and research, Kass and colleagues have systematically delineated the conceptual, moral, and empirical problems with attempting to draw a sharp distinction between clinical research and practice, with a view to taking a more holistic approach [ 12].
However, the empirical implementation of this framework to our particular context clashes with the important empirical problem that total potential migrant population is not directly observed for any country as it is not only dependent on age but also on a myriad of personal, social and economic reasons.
Following the demise of the so-called grand theories offered by luminaries like Sigmund Freud, B. F. Skinner, and Carl Rogers, the field of psychology largely gave up its early aspirations to paint a broad picture of the human condition, and now the discipline focuses primarily on empirical problems that have a relatively narrow scope.
"The largest empirical problem we have in health care today is too many people are too overinsured," he said.
The examination of the validity and responsiveness of GPBMs is fraught with conceptual and empirical problems due to the lack of a gold standard measure.
Third, even where these common empirical problems are overcome, the task of identifying the appropriateness of ancillary service use remains an important research challenge.
