Paul feyerbend

Paul Feyerabend (1924-94)

  • Birth

    Birth
    Paul Karl Feyerabend was born in Vienna in the after math of World War I, into a middle class family.
  • Nazis Induction

    Nazis Induction
    At the age of sixteen, Paul was inducted into the work service for the Nazi's.
  • Drafted into German Army

    Drafted into German Army
    Paul was drafted into the Pioneer Corps in the German Army and then he volunteered for Officer school.
  • Wounded in Battle

    Wounded in Battle
    He was shot in the hand and belly during World War 2 where he obtained nerve damage in his spin.
  • Recieved fellowship to study in Weimar

    Recieved fellowship to study in Weimar
    Received fellowship for study in drama and stage-management in Weimar where he joined the Cultural Association for the Democratic Reform of Germany.
  • Returned to Vienna to study

    Returned to Vienna to study
    Returned to study history and sociology but then started interest in physics where he published first article on the concept on modern physics.
  • Met Karl Popper

    Met Karl Popper
    Visited a seminar at the Austrian College Society where he became a secretary in the Societies board where he met Karl Popper.
  • Interest in Philosophy

    Interest in Philosophy
    Joined the "Kraft Circle" which was a student philosophy club where he met an idol of his, Ludwig Wittgenstein which had a great influence of him.
  • Recieved doctorate

    Recieved doctorate
    Eventually went on to get his doctorate in philosophy and applied to study under Wittgenstein but then learned of his death which forced him to choose Popper instead for a supervisor in England.
  • Joined Popper

    Joined Popper
    Joined Popper in England at the London School of Economics where he concentrated on the Quantum theory, studied Wittgensteins's Philosophical works and even wrote a summary on Philosophical investigations.
  • Returned to Vienna again

    Returned to Vienna again
    Returned to Vienna to study under and assist Arthur Pap and translated Popper's "The Open Society and its Enemies" into German.
  • First full-time position

    First full-time position
    After publishing his first articles on Quantum mechanics and Wittgenstein, He began to work full-time as a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Bristol in England.
  • Quantum Influence

    Quantum Influence
    Met David Bohm, a quantum physicists, who was eventually a big influence on him and his work interests.
  • Started lectureship at Berkeley

    Started lectureship at Berkeley
    Transferred to the University of California, Berkley after giving a lectureship and published two important early works, " An attempt at a Realistic Interpretation of Experience" and " Complementarity" where he argued with positivism with scientific realism in regards to theory and experience.
  • Period: to

    Publishing Years Part 1

    After he accepted his permanent job at Berkley, he obtained his green card and began publishing a variety of articles and papers which he related some to Popper and Wittgenstein. He argued that entities are considerable and questionable with "Das Problem der Existenz theoretischer Entitaten", applied criticism to empiricism of explanation and reduction along with introducing incommensurability with "Explanation, Reduction, and Empiricism" and published a paper on "How to be a good Empiricist".
  • Period: to

    Publishing Years Part 2

    Between 1974 and 1988, Feyerabend advanced his writing influence to publishing books and later volumes on similar matters. Published his first book, "Against Method",which criticized the scientific method, "Science in a Free Society", "Sciences as an Art", "Farewell to Reason", and then started converted a few into English along with replies to reviewers of his works.
  • Resigned from Berkeley

    Resigned from Berkeley
    Left California to travel to Italy and Switzerland with third wife because of the effects of Earthquake in California.
  • Brain Tumour

    Brain Tumour
    Was hospitalized after discovering an inoperable brain tumour.
  • Death

    Death
    Died in Switzerland on February 11th.
  • Conquest of Abundance

    Conquest of Abundance
    Conquest of Abundance is a book Paul was working on when he died in 1994. It reveals differences between natural and human world abundances and how they are reduced to show us an illusion of one fixed reality through experience.
  • Major Work Citations and video

    Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction Versus the Richness of Being, B. Terpstra (ed.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
    Science in a Free Society, London: New Left Books, 1978.
    Farewell to Reason, London: Verso/New Left Books, 1987.
    The Tyranny of Science, E. Oberheim (ed.), Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011.
    Problems of Empiricism (Philosophical Papers, Volume 2), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. https://youtu.be/85pzjUvBZSI