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The Life of Paul Feyerabend
Born in Vienna shortly after WWI, Paul Feyerabend was a strange child who preferred solitary. He had a difficult time understanding life and people at a young age. However, he was fascinated by physics and astronomy. Feyerabend was soon drafted into a Nazi work service, Arbeitsdienst, after high school in 1942. While at war Feyerabend took a few bullets where one of them found itself in his spine. His paralysis then returned him to Vienna, Austria. -
The Beginning of Feyerabend's Work
After the war and recovering from his injuries, Paul Feyerabend returned to Vienna and began his life in physics, sociology, and mathematics. He then met Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein in person. After sometime, he developed his own ideas and theories in the philosophy of science. He also wrote many of his own books on the matters which I will be discussing 2 of them in this timeline. -
Against Method
Feyerabend wrote Against Method to draw the “‘epistemological anarchist’ conclusion that there are no useful and exceptionless methodological rules governing the progress of science or the growth of knowledge” (Preston, 2020). He thought that science could not be simply measured with the scientific method. Feyerabend then says “Against Method was to free people from the tyranny of philosophical obfuscators and abstract concepts such as ‘truth’, ‘reality’, or ‘objectivity’" (Preston, 2020). -
Farewell to Reason
Feyerabend suggests that relativism creates uniformity within contrasting beliefs and lives. He believes that “The surface diversity belies a deeper uniformity, a monotony generated and sustained by the cultural and ideological imperialism" (Preston, 2020). Feyerabend expressed that each person has their own way of life that is particular to themselves. He states that he wishes to “undermine the very basis of Reason” (Preston, 2020) using relativism. -
Video and References
For references, see assignment dropbox. Below is a video interview that I found intriguing where Paul Feyerabend addresses "enlightenment" in the ways of life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsObUEBfNYw