Paul Feyerabend

Paul Karl Feyerabend (January 13, 1924 - February 11, 1994) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science, who later lived in England, the United States, New Zealand, Italy, and finally Switzerland. His major works include Against Method (published in 1975), Science in a Free Society (published in 1978) and Farewell to Reason (a collection of papers published in 1987). Feyerabend became famous for his anarchistic view of science and his rejection of the existence of universal methodological rules. He is an influential figure in the philosophy of science, and also in the sociology of scientific knowledge.

Biography

Paul Feyerabend was born in 1924 in Vienna where he attended primary school and high school. In this period he got into the habit of reading a lot, developed an interest in theatre, and started singing lessons. When he graduated from high school in April 1942, he was drafted into the German Arbeitsdienst. After basic training in Pirmasens, (Germany), he was assigned to a unit in Quelerne en Bas, (France). Feyerabend described the work he did during that period as monotonous: "we moved around in the countryside, dug ditches, and filled them up again." After a short leave, he joined the army and volunteered for officer school. In his autobiography, he wrote that he hoped the war would be over by the time he had finished his education as an officer. This turned out not to be the case. From December 1943 on, he served as an officer on the northern part of the Eastern Front, was decorated with an Iron cross, and attained the rank of lieutenant. After the German army started its retreat from the advancing Red army, Feyerabend was hit by three bullets while directing traffic. It turned out that one of the bullets had hit him in the spine. As a consequence of this, he needed to walk with a stick for the rest of his life and frequently experienced severe pains. He spent the rest of the war recovering from his injuries.

Related Topics:
1924 - Vienna - 1942 - Arbeitsdienst - Pirmasens - Germany - Quelerne en Bas - France - 1943 - Eastern Front - Iron cross - Lieutenant - Red army

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the war was over, Feyerabend first got a temporary job in Apolda in which he wrote pieces for the theatre. After that, he took various classes at the Weimar Academy, and returned to Vienna to study History and Sociology. He got dissatisfied however, and soon transferred to Physics, where he met Felix Ehrenhaft, a physicist whose experiments would influence his later views on the nature of science. Feyerabend changed the subject of his study to philosophy and submitted his final thesis on observation sentences. In his autobiography, he described his philosophical views during this time as "staunchly empiricist". In 1948 he visited the first meeting of the international summer seminar of the Austrian College Society in Alpbach. This was the place where Feyerabend first met Karl Popper, who had a large influence on his later works, first in a positive, but later in a negative way. In 1951, Feyerabend was granted a British Council scholarship to study under Wittgenstein. However, Wittgenstein died before Feyerabend moved to England. Feyerabend then chose Popper as his supervisor instead, and went to study at the London School of Economics in 1952. In his autobiography, Feyerabend explains that during this time, he was influenced much by Popper: "I had fallen for ". After that, Feyerabend returned to Vienna and was involved in various projects. He wrote a German translation of Karl Popper's Open Society and its Enemies, a report on the development of the humanities in Austria and several articles for an encyclopedia.

Related Topics:
Apolda - Weimar Academy - Vienna - History - Sociology - Physics - Felix Ehrenhaft - Philosophy - 1948 - Austrian College Society - Alpbach - Karl Popper - 1951 - British Council - Wittgenstein - London School of Economics - 1952 - Austria

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1955, Feyerabend received his first academic appointment at the University of Bristol, England, where he gave lectures about the Philosophy of science. Later in his life he worked as a lecturer in Berkeley, Auckland, Sussex, Yale, London and Berlin. During this time, he developed a critical view of science, which he later described as 'anarchistic' or 'dadaistic' to illustrate his rejection of the dogmatic use of rules. This position was incompatible with the contemporary rationalistic culture in the philosophy of science. At the London School of Economics, Feyerabend met another student of Popper, Imre Lakatos. They planned to write a dialogue volume, to be titled For and Against Method, in which Lakatos would defend a rationalist view of science and Feyerabend would attack it. Lakatos' sudden death in 1974 put an end to this planned joint publication. Despite this, Feyerabend wrote the critique, which is a mainly a collage of articles that he wrote earlier. Against Method became a famous criticism of current philosophical views of science and provoked many reactions. One reason for this may be that Feyerabend enjoyed using inflammatory and direct language. There is passion and energy in his writings unequaled by other philosophers of science. In his autobiography, he reveals that this came at great cost to himself. Following the initial reviews of Against Method in 1975, which were overwhelmingly negative, he fell into a deep depression.

Related Topics:
1955 - University of Bristol - England - Philosophy of science - Berkeley - Auckland - Sussex - Yale - London - Berlin - London School of Economics - Imre Lakatos - 1974 - 1975

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:The depression stayed with me for over a year; it was like an animal, a well-defined, spatially localizable thing. I would wake up, open my eyes, listen -- Is it here or isn't? No sign of it. Perhaps it's asleep. Perhaps it will leave me alone today. Carefully, very carefully, I get out of bed. All is quiet. I go to the kitchen, start breakfast. Not a sound. TV -Good Morning America-, David What's-his-name, a guy I can't stand. I eat and watch the guests. Slowly the food fills my stomach and gives me strength. Now a quick excursion to the bathroom, and out for my morning walk -and here she is, my faithful depression: "Did you think you could leave without me?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Despite this, Feyerabend continued to defend his controversial philosophical position, and travelled incessantly. He had moved to UC Berkeley in California in 1958 and became a US citizen. Following temporary assignments at London, Berlin, and Yale, he lectured at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 1972 and 1974, always returning to California. Feyerabend later enjoyed alternating between posts in Zurich and Berkeley through the 1980s but left Berkeley for good in October of 1989, first to Italy, then finally to Zurich. After his retirement in 1991, Feyerabend continued to publish frequent papers and worked on his autobiography. He died in 1994 at home in Zurich from a brain tumor.

Related Topics:
UC Berkeley - California - 1958 - London - Berlin - Yale - University of Auckland - New Zealand - 1972 - 1974 - Zurich - 1980s - 1989 - Italy - 1991 - 1994

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~