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Early Life
Paul Feyerabend was born in Vienna, Austria in 1924. From an early age Paul showed a unique skillset regarding Physics and Mathematics. He began to take the subjects more seriously when he was in High school and with help from his father, he built a telescope to focus more on Astronomy. He also served in the Army until 1945 when he was shot in the back and was left temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. -
Works
Early in his career Feyerabend was an avid supporter of Popper and defended his position on those ideals. However, as Feyerabend grew older his views began to change and eventually his views became very different from Popper's. In his book "Against Method" (which became his most famous work) he objected to any scientific method that would limit the research of the scientist and restrict scientific progress. He proposed that theoretical anarchism was kore desirable because of the lack of rules. -
Contributions To The Philosophy of Science
One of his biggest contributions was making the bold statement that a universal scientific method does not exist. Feyerabend went on to eventually develop an anarchistic view of the philosophy of science stating that society needs to be protected from being influenced too much by scientific ideologies. This concept would later become very influential in the discipline of Science and Technology Studies. -
Later Years
In the 1990's Feyerabend published multiple papers that appeared in the Journal "Common Knowledge". Feyerabend died on February 11th, 1994 while living in Switzerland. There was also an autobiography that was published the year after his death in 1995. Some of his works were still published posthumously in different journals, but his legacy lives on in modern philosophers such as Paul and Patricia Churchland, Richard Rorty, Cliff Hooker, Bas Van Fraassen and John Dupre. -
Educational Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiNm5Ec-GuE&t=51s
In this video by INTELECOM philosopher Ian Hacking talks about Kuhn and Feyerabend and their similar ideals. -
Sources
INTELECOM.“Feyerabend and Kuhn.” YouTube, YouTube,17 Apr. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiNm5Ec-GuE&t=51s.
“Paul Feyerabend.” Paul Feyerabend- New World Encyclopedia, New World Encyclopedia, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Paul_Feyerabend#Work_regarding_the_nature_of_scientific_method.
“The Philosophy of Paul Feyerabend.” Antimatter, Antimatter, 14 Feb. 2011, antimatter.ie/2011/02/13/the-philosophy-of-paul-feyerabend/. -
Sources
Preston, John. “Paul Feyerabend.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 24 Aug. 2020, plato.stanford.edu/entries/feyerabend/#TenWondYearEighBerkZuri.
