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Feyerabend begins study of Physics
The beginning of Feyerabend's academic career starts with his studying Math, Astronomy and Physics at the University of Vienna. However, soon after he switched to focusing on History for it's base in reality. Then, not long after, he once again switched back to theoretical physics. Despite that being his college major, his personal focus was on the Philosophy of Science, or rather, he believed that all knowledge should be based on proven science. This is known as radical positivism. -
Feyerabend meets Popper
In august of 1948 Feyerabend meets Karl Popper who follows the falsificationist method as it pertains to the philosophy of science. Meaning the best way to prove a theory is to attempt to find methods to disprove it. Feyerabend stated in his autobiography that Poppers lectures would eventually help shape his approach on the philosophy of science. (Feyerabend 1996) -
Feyerabend meets Hollistcher
At the time, Feyerabend also met Walter Hollistcher, who followed realism as a philosophy of science. Realism , in broad terms, being the belief that both the observable and unobservable be included in scientific deduction. -
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Feyerabend attends the London School of Economics.
During his attendance at LSE Feyerabend works closely with Karl Popper, enjoying his views on Falisificationism and Normative Epistemology, which is the belief that there should be set methods and rules not just in the pursuit of Scientific knowledge but also in the Philosophy of Science. -
Feyerabend begins to comment on the "Language of Observation"
At this point, Feyerabend began to see that scientific observation couldn't begin given an absolute language and methodology, which would take him from being a colleague of Popper to being a rival, as Popper follow normative Epistemology. Instead, Popper belived that a scientific theory in and of itself had to be the normative language, as it was a new theory that was being tested to become a standard. -
Feyerabend begins writing papers on the need for Realism
In 1957 and on, Feyerabend begins writing papers such as "Mental Events and the Brain", which speak on the need for the inclusion of Realism in scientific endeavors in order to further the knowledge of the unknown rather than state already known fact(positivism). (Feyerabend 1963) -
The Problems with Empiricsim
During his time at UC Berkely, Feyerband wrote papers titled "Classical Empiricism" and Science without experience, that focused on the matter of experience not necessarily being a deciding factor for the development and proving of a theory if one follows empiricism.(Feyerabend 1970) -
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Relativism
No longer following the Falisificationist methodology, Feyerabend began speaking on Relativism, which has various definitions but as Feyerabend saw it was that truth is relative to the language form speaking it. This would go against the school of Normative Epistemology which required rules for the development of a scientific theory. -
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Relativism Cont'd
Feyerabend and colleague, Imre Lakatos, would begin a set of papers, arguing the logic between scientific proof being relative to the language proving, and scientific proof being reliant on a universal set of rules. -
Paul Feyerabend gives an interview on his controversial views of Relativism.
https://youtu.be/kDwoGtPbO5w The above is a link to a video which shows an interview Feyerabend gives on his own recollection of how he developed his current views of Relativism through his life. Feyerabend would pass the following year.
