Paul Feyerabend Quotes
Paul Karl Feyerabend was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his anti-methodological critique of the philosophy of science. After early work in the orbit of the logical empiricists and Popper, he turned to a more radical position, expressed in Against Method, Science in a Free Society, and Farewell to Reason, in which no single methodological rule has ever survived the actual history of science and theoretical progress depends on a willingness to violate received standards. The quotes below are attributed to Paul Feyerabend, organized by topic.
Browse Paul Feyerabend by topic
Paul Feyerabend on Knowledge
-
Attributed to Paul Feyerabend:
“The only principle that does not inhibit progress is: anything goes.”
-
“Science is an essentially anarchic enterprise.”
p. 9. -
Attributed to Paul Feyerabend:
“There is no idea, however ancient and absurd, that is not capable of improving our knowledge.”
-
Attributed to Paul Feyerabend:
“A clever individual will always know how to circumvent any rule.”
-
Attributed to Paul Feyerabend:
“Reason is one tradition among others; it has no claim to universal authority.”
-
“Who's Who in America (1991)”
My life has been the result of accidents, not of goals and principles. My intellectual work forms only an insignificant part of it. Love and personal understanding are much more important. Leading intellectuals with their zeal for objectivity kill these personal elements. They are criminals, not the leaders of mankind. -
“One can show the following: 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.”
Pg. 23. -
“Pg iii (Intro to the Chinese Edition of AM).”
First-world science is one science among many; by claiming to be more it ceases to be an instrument of research and turns into a (political) pressure group. -
“Pg. 27 & 28, italics are Feyerabend's”
It is clear, then, that the idea of a fixed method, or of a fixed theory or 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 wi -
“Without a constant misuse of language, there cannot be any discovery, any progress.”
pg. 27. -
“My intention is not to replace one set of general rules by another such set: my intention is, rather, to convince the reader that all methodologies, even the most obvious ones, have their limits . The best way to show this is to demonstrate the limits and even the irrationality of some rules which she, or he, is likely to regard as basic. In the case that induction (including induction by falsification) this means demonstrating how well the counterinductive procedure can be supported by argument.”
pg. 32, Italics are Feyerabend's. -
“pg. 32, Italics are Feyerabend's.”
My intention is not to replace one set of general rules by another such set: my intention is, rather, to convince the reader that all methodologies, even the most obvious ones, have their limits . The best way to show this is to demonstrate the limits and even the irrationality of some rules which she, or he, is likely to regard as basic. In the case that induction (including induction by falsific
Paul Feyerabend on Life
-
“My life has been the result of accidents, not of goals and principles. My intellectual work forms only an insignificant part of it. Love and personal understanding are much more important. Leading intellectuals with their zeal for objectivity kill these personal elements. They are criminals, not the leaders of mankind.”
Who's Who in America (1991)
Paul Feyerabend on Nature
-
“First-world science is one science among many; by claiming to be more it ceases to be an instrument of research and turns into a (political) pressure group.”
Pg iii (Intro to the Chinese Edition of AM).
Paul Feyerabend on Time
-
“It is clear, then, that the idea of a fixed method, or of a fixed theory or 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.”
Pg. 27 & 28, italics are Feyerabend's