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The Life of Paul Feyerabend Short Video
Timetoast
This is a short video that illustrates the life story of Paul Feyerabend and touches upon his scientific contributions. Feyerabend's work in the philosophy of science encouraged scientists to be more open and flexible in their processes in order to better advance scientific progress. He emphasized that science is a part of human creativity and should not be bound to narrow frameworks. -
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Paul Feyerabend fights in WWII
Paul fought in the German infantry in WWII. After the war, he switched to philosophy and began his journey to revolutionize the realm of philosophy in science. -
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A Collection of Paul Feyerabend's Most Famous Works
Feyerabend, Paul K. 1970. Consolations for the Specialist. In Criticism and the Growth
of Knowledge, edited by Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press.
———. 1975. Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge. At-
lantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.
———. 1978. Science in a Free Society. London: New Left Books.
———. 1981. Philosophical Papers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. -
Against Method
Arguably one of his most famous works was "Against Method". In this work, Feyerabend coined the phrase "Anything Goes" which served as a challenge against traditional scientific philosophy. "Against Method" argued in favor for what is known as epistemological anarchism. Feyerabend viewed the other philosophical methods as obstacles to true scientific progress, so in theory, there should be no rules to define how scientific progress is to be made. -
Against Method (Continued)
Paul Feyerabend's contribution to the philosophy of science was that his "Anything Goes" approach allowed scientists to become more open minded and creative when it comes to advancing scientific progress. Instead of following specific steps that would potentially lead to only one outcome, Feyerabend's way of thinking created more imaginative scientists who were not constrained to a particular method and could "think outside the box" to better advance scientific progress. -
Paul Feyerabend
A picture of Dr. Paul Feyerabend later in life. -
Sources used in making this Timeline
Peter Godfrey-Smith. (2003). Theory and Reality : An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. University of Chicago Press. Preston, J. (n.d.). Paul Feyerabend. Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved July 7, 2024, from https://plato.stanford.edu/archIves/spr2010/entries/feyerabend/#2.3