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Paul Karl Feyerabend was born in Vienna, Austria into a middle-class family. Information provided in the following events has been paraphrased from the following source: Preston, John. "Paul Feyerabend." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Fall 2020 Edition, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/feyerabend/. -
After his service in the German military, and while recovering from service-related injuries, Feyerabend returned to Vienna, Austria. It was during this year at the University of Vienna's Institut für Osterreichische Geschichtsforschung, that he began studies in history and sociology. Within the same timeframe, he traded the study of history for theoretical physics. -
Having become indoctrinated in the positivist scientism philosophy, Feyerabend followed his philosophical pursuits leading to his attendance at the Austrian College Society in Alpbach's first international summer seminar. While at this conference, Feyerabend met Popper who became a highly influential character, both positively and negatively on Feyerabend's work. In addition to meeting Popper, Feyerabend became a friend and student of Marxist intellectual Walter Hollitscher. -
Feyerabend began his first academic appointment at the University of Bristol, England where he met with David Bohm who replaced Popper's influence with his own leading to Feyerabend's newfound interest in fringe science. Feyerabend published works reflecting Bohm's influence staring in the mid-1960's moving forward. -
Feyerabend received an NSF grant to work at the Minnesota Center for the Philosophy of Science in Minneapolis. Here he published his most important papers, which include "An Attempt at a Realistic Interpretation of Experience". A standpoint was developed indicating theory could be applicable independent of the previously prescribed necessity of experience. This was supported in his "Pragmatic Theory of Observation" publication. -
Following his tenure at Minneapolis, Feyerabend became a full-time lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley. He was exposed to Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" in unpublished format and was unconvinced of this philosophy of science concept. While here Feyerabend reapplied Popperian methodology, rejecting certainty and advocating theories that transcend experience. -
Paul Feyerabend delivered the last in a series of 17 lectures given on the philosophy of science. This lecture touches on the theories of Kuhn as well as other philosophers of that time. This same year he published "How to be a Good Empiricist". https://youtu.be/v1D4zq9SG7M?si=uUQDosGJHBlRr8tH