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Birth of Paul Feyeraband
Paul Feyerabend one of the most controversial and accidental philosophers of the twentieth century. Feyerabend was born January 13, 1924, in Vienna, Austria. Born into a simple family, his father was a civil servant and his mother a seamstress. He was drafted into the Pioneer Corps of the German Army at the age of 22 years old, he was a decorated soldier who was shot while serving his country. He was shot in the hand and suffered a wound to his spinal nerves. -
Feyerabend School Years
Feyerabend returned to Vienna to study history and sociology, and transferred to physics soon after. At this time, he was viewed as “a raving positivist”, his first article and published work was written on the concept of illustration in modern physics. In 1949, He became student leader of the “Kraft Circle”, which was a philosophy club that was based on Viktor Kraft’s work. In 1951 he received his doctorate in philosophy for his theses on “basic statements”. -
Began his Career at Berkeley
In 1952, Feyerabend went to England to study under Karl Popper at the London School of Economics. He translated Popper’s “The Open Society and it’s Enemies” and declined an offer to become Popper’s research assistant. His first academic appointment was as a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Bristol, which according to Feyerabend himself, he learned philosophy by teaching it. Later in 1959 he accepted a permanent position at Berkeley.
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Passing of Paul Feyerabend
Feyerabend was quite controversial often, labeled as “the worst enemy of science”, he pushed the boundaries of science because he knew to truly expand our knowledge of the unknown that we had to look beyond the methods and restrictions that the science field established. He pushed the boundaries with all of his work but his most recognized work was published in 1975 “Against the Method”. Feyerabend passed on February 11, 1994, while writing his autobiography. -
Citations
"Paul Feyerabend Interview (1993)." You Tube, Philosophy Overdose, 13/12/2018, https://youtu.be/kDwoGtPbO5w, Accessed 1/4/2021 Preston, John, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 24/8/2020,https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feyerabend/,Accessed 1/4/2021 Feser, Edward “Scientism: America’s State Religion.” The American Mind, The Claremont Institute, 2020 Scientism: America’s State Religion - The American Mind, Accessed 1/4/2021
