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Life of Paul Feyerabend
Born in Vienna. His mother was a seamstress and his father was a civil servant. He died in 1994 of an inoperable brain tumor, however his works were completed and published in the two years proceeding his death. -
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His Service in the German Army
Was inducted into the Arbeitsdienst by force of the Nazis at the age of 16. He was then drafted into the Pioneer Corps of the Germany army. After basic training he volunteered for Officers’ School. He advanced all the way to Lieutenant. In 1945 he was shot in the hand and stomach during the retreat from the Russian Army. The bullet damaged his spinal nerves. -
Mother's Suicide
His mother tragically committed suicide. -
Came to England to Study Popper
Feyerabend went to England, to study under Popper at the London School of Economics. He was mostly studying quantum physics at the time. He also began to translate Popper’s The Open Society and its Enemies into German. However, Feyerabend ultimately declined the offer to become Popper’s research assistant. He ultimately broke with Popper and became famous for his "anarchistic" view of science and rejection of the "scientific method" as proposed by Popper and Khun. -
Feyerabend's "Against Method"
Feyerabend’s first book, Against Method, sets out the idea of “epistemological anarchism”. His main thesis was that there is no such thing as the scientific method. He said that, "Great scientists are methodological opportunists who use any moves that come to hand, even if they thereby violate canons of empiricist methodology." Basically he believed that, firstly, scientists didn't just use one method, but also that any such methods were barriers to the creative spirit of scientists. -
"Farwell to Reason"
In Farewell to Reason, Feyerabend argued that cultures should be left to their own devices, "living and acting according to their own beliefs and customs". He argued that there had been a tendency since enlightenment to make all other cultures in western's image. He disagreed with philosophers who consistently maintain that, “there exists a right way of living and that the world must be made to accept it.” This moved outside of the realm of philosophy, to a humanitarian position.