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Attended University of Vienna
Returned to Vienna after being injured on the front lines. Originally he was going to study physics, math, and astronomy, but ended up studying history and sociology. Later he switched from history to theoretical physics. Originally when attending sociology classes he took the view of the Vienna Circle, that science is the basis of knowledge. -
Feyerabend meets Popper
While attending a seminar for the Austrian College Society Feyerabend met Karl Popper. Popper ended up being one of Feyerabend's biggest influences in a positive light at first and then later in a negative one. Later in his life Feyerabend went on to attend the seminar fifteen more times as a student, a lecturer, and a seminar chair. -
Completed his doctoral thesis
Originally Feyerabend planned on making his thesis on physics, but after he got nowhere with the electrodynamics problem he was calculating he decided to switch to philosophy. His thesis was on "protocol sentences", these sentences were believed to compromise the foundations of scientific knowledge by the Logical Positivists. -
Published paper on "Classical Empiricism"
In this paper, he argues that empiricism shares some problematic similarities with Protestantism. -
Feyerabend published his first article on the philosophy of quantum mechanics
In this article, he took the position that the "Copenhagen Interpretation" did not deserve the amount of dominance it achieved. he argued it could not be shown that this interpretation was a remedy for the problems occurring in microphysics or that the people believed it saw it to be invulnerable of disproving. -
Wrote a paper "On The Quantum Theory of Measurement"
In this paper, he introduced his idea that there is no separate and neutral "everyday language" that theoretical statements can be tested against, but that “the everyday level is part of the theoretical rather than something self-contained and independent”. This was a part of his bigger subject of the relationship between theory and experience. -
Published “An Attempt at a Realistic Interpretation of Experience”
In this paper, Feyerabend argued against positivism and in favor of a scientific realist account of the relationship between theory and experience. In this paper, he uses Karl Popper's falcification views to create his Thesis 1 "the interpretation of an observation-language is determined by the theories which we use to explain what we observe, and it changes as soon as those theories change." -
Published “Explanation, Reduction, and Empiricism”
In this paper, Feyerabend introduced the concept of incommensurability. Incommensurability in this paper meant that it prevented any formal explanation, reduction, or confirmation. -
Published “Against Method”
In this paper, he attacked some prominent accounts of scientific methodology. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=0acb8638-1672-4682-a5d6-d86aa64691bb%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=84187263&db=aph -
Made his "Against Method" article into a book
This book has his previous beliefs outlined as well as a case study into geocentric and heliocentric astronomy. However, now he is arguing against using any methodology at all becoming an “epistemological anarchist”. This means he believed that there is no useful set of methodological rules that science needs to follow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oovqaJSOVLc -
Published "Science in a Free Society"
In this book, Feyerabrend had a section written out called "Conversations with Illiterates". In this section, he called out and berated bad reviews of his previous book "Against Method". Because of this response to his previous book and the reaction of others to his "conversations with illiterates, Feyerabend fell into a depression. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=09085477-44e0-4ad3-bbd1-dcb4fdf3aa17%40redis -
Published "Farewell to Reason"
This paper focused on the belief that the solution for conflicting beliefs and ways of life is relativism. With Feyerabend's definition of relativism is, the decision to treat other people's way of life and beliefs as true for them while our views are true to ourselves. He sees this philosophy as a good way to treat issues between cultures. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy1.apus.edu/stable/2026949?seq=3 -
Feyerabend lectures at Berkley
Feyerabend taught a course of lectures entitled, "What is Knowledge? What is Science". Later in 2011, these lectures were published by Eric Oberheim into a book entitled "The Tyranny of Science". These lectures/this book focused on the idea that scientists and philosophers present science as a unified force, while Feyerabend says that it is disunified and incomplete. -
Feyerabend Died
Before he died, Feyerabend was spending most of his time working on his autobiography, later published in 1995, and his last book was edited and published by Bert Terpstra in 1999. At the end of his autobiography, Feyerabend said he wished that he would remain "not papers, not final declarations, but love”. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy1.apus.edu/stable/236072