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Birth of Paul Feyerabend
Birth of Paul Feyerabend in Vienna. -
Military Service
After high school, Feyerabend was drafted into the military (German Arbeitsdienst) serving in WWII. In 1943, Feyerabend volunteered for officer school and served as an officer, earning the Iron Cross and the rank of lieutenant. Feyerebend was later hit by 3 bullets, one of them hitting him in the spine, causing him to walk with a cane for the rest of his life. He then returned to Vienna to study history and sociology which eventually switched to philosophy. -
International Summer Seminar
He went to the first meeting of the international summer seminar of the Austrian College Society in Alpbach where he met Karl Popper who influenced Feyereband’s later works. -
Feyerabend and Lakatos
He met Imre Lakatos at the London School of Economics. They had planned a joint publication but Lakatos had an untimely death in 1974. -
Against Method
This was the joint publication which Feyerabend’s portion of the writing became famous amongst the current philosophical views. He states that there is no such thing as the scientific method and that “great scientists are opportunistic and creative, willing to make use of any available technique for discovery and persuasion.” (Peter Godfrey-Smith) -
Science in a Free Society
“Feyerabend defends the idea that there are no methodological rules which are always used by scientists.” (New World Encyclopedia) He supports that science should include a sort of “theoretical anarchism” as it is more humanitarian than other organizational rules and systems. “The book also included one of Feyerabend’s major endorsements of relativism, one of the views for which he was becoming known.” (Preston, John) -
Farewell to Reason
Feyerabend’s collection of papers from 1981-1987 is published. -
Death of Paul Feyerabend
Death of Paul Feyerabend from a brain tumor. -
Video link
Here is the link to a short educational video on Paul Feyerabend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85pzjUvBZSI&feature=youtu.be -
Works Cited
Preston, John. Paul Feyerabend. 24 Aug. 2020, plato.stanford.edu/entries/feyerabend/. “Paul Feyerabend.” Paul Feyerabend - New World Encyclopedia, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Paul_Feyerabend. Peter Godfrey-Smith. Theory and Reality : An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. University of Chicago Press, 2003.
