Paul K. Feyerabend

Austrian-American philosopher of science who became an American citizen in 1935, but spent parts of his his life in other countries, including England and New Zealand. He wrote about the philosophy of science in Against Method and Science in a Free Society.



Short biography of Paul K. Feyerabend >>

Science Quotes by Paul K. Feyerabend (11 quotes)

Events and developments, such as the Copernican Revolution, occurred only because some thinkers either decided not to be bound by certain obvious methodological rules, or because they unwittingly broke them.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 14.



Everywhere science is enriched by unscientific methods and unscientific results, ... the separation of science and non-science is not only artificial but also detrimental to the advancement of knowledge. If we want to understand nature, if we want to master our physical surroundings, then we must use all ideas, all methods, and not just a small selection of them.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975), 305-6.



(62) | All (4107) | Enrich (24) | Everywhere (95) | Idea (845) | Knowledge (1536) | Master (178) | Method (506) | Methods (204) | Must (1526) | Nature (1928) | Physical (508) | Result (678) | Science (3880) | Selection (128) | Separation (57) | Small (479) | Understand (607) | Understanding (514) | Unscientific (13) | Use (766) | Want (497)

Science quotes on: | Advancement

Given any rule, however fundamental or necessary for science, there are always circumstances when it is advisable not only to ignore the rule, but to adopt its opposite. For example, there are circumstances when it is advisable to introduce, elaborate and defend ad hoc hypotheses, or hypotheses which contradict well-established and generally accepted experimental results, or hypotheses whose content is smaller than the content of the existing and empirically adequate alternative, or self-inconsistent hypotheses, and so on.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 14-15.



It is clear, then, that the idea of a fixed method, or of a fixed theory of rationality, rests on too naive a view of man and his social surroundings. To those who look at the rich material provided by history, and who are not intent on impoverishing it in order to please their lower instincts, their craving for intellectual security in the form of clarity, precision, objectivity, truth, it will become clear that there is only one principle that can be defended under all circumstances and in all stages of human development. It is the principle: anything goes.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 18-19.



(4107) | Become (815) | Circumstance (136) | Circumstances (108) | Clarity (47) | Development (424) | Form (960) | History (675) | Human (1470) | Hypothesis (296) | Idea (845) | Instinct (88) | Intellectual (255) | Look (582) | Man (2249) | Material (353) | Method (506) | Naive (13) | Objectivity (16) | Order (632) | Please (65) | Precision (68) | Principle (510) | Rationality (24) | Rest (281) | Security (47) | Social (252) | Stage (143) | Theory (972) | Truth (1062) | View (488) | Will (2354)

Science quotes on: | All

No theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain, yet it is not always the theory that is to blame. Facts are constituted by older ideologies, and a clash between facts and theories may be proof of progress. It is also a first step in our attempt to find the principles implicit in familiar observational notions.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 39. This is his summary at the head of Chapter 5.



(4107) | Attempt (251) | Blame (30) | Domain (69) | Fact (1212) | Facts (553) | Find (999) | First (1284) | Implicit (12) | Notion (113) | Observational (15) | Principle (510) | Progress (468) | Proof (289) | Step (231) | Theory (972)

Science quotes on: | All

Science is an essentially anarchic enterprise: theoretical anarchism is more humanitarian and more likely to encourage progress than its law-and-order alternatives.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



From Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 9.



(41) | Enterprise (54) | Humanitarian (5) | Law (895) | More (2559) | Order (632) | Progress (468) | Science (3880) | Theory (972)

Science quotes on: | Encourage

Science is neither a single tradition, nor the best tradition there is, except for people who have become accustomed to its presence, its benefits and its disadvantages. In a democracy it should be separated from the state just as churches are now separated from the state.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method, p. 238 (1975).The author's warning against allowing scientists to become the new 'high priests' of society.



(52) | Accustomed (46) | Become (815) | Benefit (114) | Best (459) | Church (57) | Democracy (33) | Disadvantage (10) | People (1005) | Presence (63) | Science (3880) | Separate (143) | Single (354) | State (491) | Tradition (69)

Science quotes on: | Accustom

The idea of a method that contains firm, unchanging, and absolutely binding principles for conducting the business of science meets considerable difficulty when confronted with the results of historical research. We find, then, that there is not a single rule, however plausible, and however firmly grounded in epistemology, that is not violated at some time or another.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 14.



(146) | Binding (9) | Business (149) | Confrontation (7) | Considerable (75) | Difficulty (198) | Epistemology (8) | Find (999) | Firm (47) | Ground (218) | Historical (70) | History (675) | Idea (845) | Meet (32) | Method (506) | Plausibility (7) | Plausible (22) | Principle (510) | Research (677) | Result (678) | Rule (295) | Science (3880) | Single (354) | Time (1877)

Science quotes on: | Absolute

The only principle that does not inhibit progress is: anything goes.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 14. In the chapter summary for Chapter 1.



(510) | Progress (468)

Science quotes on: | Principle

The separation of state and church must be complemented by the separation of state and science, that most recent, most aggressive, and most dogmatic religious institution.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975), 295.



(57) | Complement (5) | Government (111) | Institution (68) | Most (1729) | Must (1526) | Recent (77) | Religion (363) | Religious (126) | Science (3880) | Separation (57) | State (491)

Science quotes on: | Church

Unanimity of opinion may be fitting for a church, for the frightened or greedy victims of some (ancient, or modern) myth, or for the weak and willing followers of some tyrant. Variety of opinion is necessary for objective knowledge. And a method that encourages variety is also the only method that is comparable with a humanitarian outlook.



— Paul K. Feyerabend



Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 31-32.

