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Birth of Paul Feyerabend
Paul Feyerabend was born on January 13, 1924, in Vienna Austria. He was born into a middle-class family as their only child. His family had just lived to survive World War I, and Austria was in economic ruin. -
Drafted to Uncertainty
Feyerabend attended high school in Vienna where he was born, and became heavily involved in reading and singing. He graduated high school in April of 1942, and was immediately drafted by the German Army. He was placed into Arbeitsdienst, also known as the Reich Labour Service. The Arbeitsdienst was made to lessen the impact of the unemployment in Germany, while also instilling Nazi ideals in it's workers. -
The War
After completing basic training, Feyerabend was assigned to a unit near Brest, France. He described his work during this time as monotonous. Feyerabend volunteered to attend officer school, in hopes the war would be over by the time of completion. Things however, did not go his way. He went on in 1943 to serve on the Eastern front of the war. During this time he attained the rank of Lieutenant and was awarded the iron cross. While retreating, he was hit three times in the back by enemy fire. -
Post-WWII
Following the war, Feyerabend became a playwright in Adolpa, Germany. He returned to Vienna to study history and sociology at the University of Vienna. He became uninterested in his current area of study and transferred the the physics program. He met Felix Ehrenhaft, who would later influence his views on science. Feyerabend once again changed his area of study, this time to philosophy. He graduated from the University of Vienna with a doctorate in Philosophy in 1951. -
"Anarchist" Views
After graduating, Feyerabend landed his first university job at the University of Bristol. He lectured on the philosophy of science, and expressed how he was influence by Karl Popper. He began to develop anarchist views on the philosophy of science. He met Imre Lakatos, a colleague of Popper, at the London School of Economics. The two planned to write a dialogue in which Lakatos would defend the rationalistic view of science and Feyerabend would attack it. After Lakatos died in 1974, it ended. -
Professor
Following his position at the University of Bristol, Feyerabend then moved to the University of California Berkley. He became a U.S. citizen in 1958 and continued teaching as a professor. He went to to teach at University College London, University of Berlin, Yale University, and University of Auckland in New Zealand in 1972 and 1974. -
Death
After teaching for the remainder of his life, Feyerabend continued to publish papers and started to work on an autobiography. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1993, and later died in 1994 at the Genolier Clinic in Switzerland. His official death occurred on February 11, 1994 due to a stroke. -
YouTube Video
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Works Cited (Images)
Images:
https://42796r1ctbz645bo223zkcdl-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Paul_Feyerabend_1.jpg
https://coraifeartaigh.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/feyerabend.jpg
https://iainbking.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/feyerabend-selfie.jpg?w=640
https://virtualpsychcentre.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/paul-feyerabend-small-16_9.jpg
https://weaponsandwarfare.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/bgfzsbgf.jpg -
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Works Cited
“ Paul Feyerabend: Biography of This Philosopher.” VirtualPsychCentre, virtualpsychcentre.com/paul-feyerabend-biography-of-this-philosopher/. Preston, John. “Paul Feyerabend.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 24 Aug. 2020, plato.stanford.edu/entries/feyerabend/. Feyerabend, Paul. Against Method. Verso, 2010.
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