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Early Life: Nazi Germany
Paul Feyerabend was born in a Viennese in 1924 and was intellectual ahead of his class for most of his life. He grew up during the tribulations of World War II and discusses his infatuation with Adolf Hitler after Austria was reunified with Germany in 1938. Paul was drafted into the Arbeitsdienst (March 1942) which was a work service introduced by the Nazis. During his time in the military, he made it all to major and in 1945 he left the forces and started his career as a professor. -
A Budding Philospher
After his spinal injury in WW2, Feyerabend returned to Vienna to study history and sociology. Due to his deep intellectual nature, he grew tired of these subjects and decided to switch his major to theoretical physics. During studies, he would sneak into philosophy classes on campus. After receiving his doctorate in philosophy, Paul applied for a scholarship to study under Ludwig Wittgenstein, but sadly, he died. Due to the tragedy, Feyerabend chose to study under Karl Popper until 1952. -
Philosopher Against Science
Paul Feyerabend cultivated his voice with many works after his separation from Karl Popper. After his time with Popper, Paul began to dig into Ludwig Wittgenstein’s work and began to truly form his voice and overall theme/thesis for his works to come. “Explanation, Reduction, and Empiricism” was published in 1962 which discussed the concept of incommensurability and the realism of positivism. His early work challenged the foundations of empiricism, which was the popular philosophy method. -
Against Method
Appearance of Feyerabend’s first book, Against Method, setting out “epistemological anarchism”, whose main thesis was that there is no such thing as the scientific method. The concept that the scientific method is meritless, indicates that science was a “free for all”. Paul felt as though there were too many restrictions being applied to the liberating art of science. -
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"Til Death Do Us Part
In the years before his death, Paul Feyerabend continued to write more influential works such as, Science as an Art and Farewell to Reason that justified his perspective and claims that were discussed in Against Method. With his last few years of life Feyerabend wants his audience to understand that the societal constructs being built in the scientific community are limiting the innovation and imagination that science is supposed to bring when attempting to understand the world around us.