Paul Feyerabend Timeline

  • Paul Feyerabend Introduction

    Paul Feyerabend was born on January 13, 1924, in Vienna Austria. Paul was a philosopher that brought a new perspective to how science should not have one particular method, but a creative approach that encouraged freedom and discouraged rules that most believed should be followed. Paul brought forth many works throughout his career. His most famous is "Against Method," in which he discusses how "anything goes," when delving into scientific inquiry. He described this as epistemological Anarchism.
  • Paul Feyerabend "Against Method"

    Paul's first book "Against Method," talks about how science should not be dealt with in one particular way. One of Feyerabend's important concepts in this book is counter-induction. The idea behind counter-induction is that for every established scientific theory or paradigm, there should be another that confronts and challenges the other. He also provides historical evidence on scientific rule-breaking. The main example is Galileo's studies during the scientific revolution.
  • Paul Feyerabend "Science as Art"

    In "Science as Art" Feyerabend introduces some aspects of art that can be applied to the philosophy of science. He believed science was another form of art. His views supported the belief that the development and innovation in science needed creativity and imagination to introduce new ideas and more perspectives. Challenging the traditional views of how science should work.
  • Paul Feyerabend Death and Legacy

    Paul Feyerabend died on February 11, 1994. His work faced many criticisms due to the irrational nature of some of his concepts. With that said, across his span of work and the new perspectives he brought to the table, the philosophy of science has been impacted by his work. His ideas changed how we think about scientific inquiry, and how scientific methodologies should be creative. "There is no idea, however ancient or absurd, that is not capable of improving our knowledge." -Paul Feyerabend