Paul Feyeraband

By alec.boucher

  • Birth

    Born in Vienna Austria

  • Feyeraband Meets Popper

    Feyerabend meets Karl Popper at the Austrian College Society of Alpbach. Popper is noted as being an important influence on Feyerabend's philosophy, "he [Popper] was to be the largest single influence (first positive, then negative) on Feyerabend's work" (Preston 3.1).

  • First Important Work

    Feyerabend publishes "An Attempt at a Realistic Interpretation of Experience". In this work, he argues against positivism. In particular, he argues against positivists observation-language, "...neither the 'use' of observation-sentences, nor the phenomena that accompany their application in observational situations can determine their interpretation" (Feyrerabend 18).

  • Feyerabend argues for realism

    Feyerabend publishes multiple papers arguing in defense of scientific realism including "How to be a Good Empiricist", "Realism and Instrumentalism", and "Reply to Criticism". His most important argument being "realism is desirable because it demands the proliferation of new and incompatible theories" (Preston 4.2).

  • Against Method

    Feyerabend publishes "Against Method" in which he breaks away from arguing for a method, and argues against having any methods at all. "Against Method explicitly drew the 'epistemological anarchist' conclusion that there are no useful and exceptionless methodological rules governing the progress of science or the growth of knowledge" (Preston 5.1).

  • Defending Anarchy

    Feyerabend publishes "Science in a Free Society" where he argues against the criticisms of "Against Method".

  • Death

  • Youtube Videos

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QgRFxr4tu8
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEMD5-5VjeY

  • Works Cited pt. 2

    Feyerabend, Paul. "Science in a Free Society", London: New Left Books, 1978.

  • Works Cited

    Feyerabend, Paul, "Against Method", London: Verso, 1975. Feyerabend, P. K. “An Attempt at a Realistic Interpretation of Experience.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 58, 1957, pp. 143–170. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4544593. Accessed 8 Aug. 2020. Preston, John, "Paul Feyerabend", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/feyerabend/.