An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science

Introduction

“…a little brainwashing will go a long way in making the history of science duller, simpler, more uniform, more ‘objective’ and more easily accessible to treatment by strict and unchangeable rules” (Feyerabend, 1988, 11). In the introduction to his book Against method, Paul Feyerabend thus expresses his views about the project of the methodology of science pursued by most philosophers (as he understands them). He not only disagrees with their pursuit of this project, he considers it harmful.

What is the philosophical project that he rejects? Why does he reject it? What does he offer in its place? In this chapter we will seek answers to these questions. First, however, a word of caution: Feyerabend's willingness to mix what we might think of as reasoned philosophical arguments with polemics makes for entertaining and stimulating reading, but it can also complicate the search for his underlying argument. Moreover, for systematic reasons that we will discuss, Feyerabend sometimes plays ‘devil's advocate,’ defending a position that is not really his own, and it is not always obvious when he does so.

Like his friend Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend came of age in the midst of the turmoil enveloping central Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Vienna on January 13, 1924, he was drafted into the German army in 1942, four years after Germany's annexation of Austria.