Science in Modern World
Introduction
At the sight of the “image of science”, what immediately comes to mind is a regimented pattern of thought/process of attaining knowledge but Paul Feyerabend, an Austrian-born philosopher of science presents one of the most thought provoking accounts of science in contemporary times in his “anarchism” which has seriously challenged the supposed rational image of science. Fundamentally, Feyerabend believes that the whole notion of a methodology of science is illusive, arguing that science is essentially an archaistic enterprise. Therefore, “theoretical anarchism” according to Feyerabend, is a more humanitarian and more likely to encourage progress than its law-and order alternative. In any case, we shall see later that Feyerabend upheld this view only as a means to argue for a more viable and pragmatic philosophy of science. In doing this, we shall assume the following steps: * Brief History of Feyerabend * The Meaning of Anarchism * The Principles of “Anything Goes” * Epistemological Anarchism * The Views of Some Scholars * Critique of Feyerabend * Evaluation/Conclusion
Brief History of Feyerabend
Paul Feyerabend (b.1924, d.1994), having studied science at the University of Vienna, moved into philosophy for his doctoral thesis, made a name for himself both as an expositor and (later) as a critic of Karl Popper 's ‘critical rationalism’, and went on to become one of this century 's most famous philosophers of science. An imaginative maverick, he became a critic of philosophy of science itself, particularly of ‘rationalist’ attempts to lay down or discover rules of scientific method.
The Meaning of Anarchism
Anarchism is a derivative of the Greek word “anarchos” which means “without government”. It is opposed to all forms of government and its primary claim is that individual freedom should be absolute. A hard core anarchist would be therefore, uphold that the highest attainment of humanity is the freedom of the individual to express
At the sight of the “image of science”, what immediately comes to mind is a regimented pattern of thought/process of attaining knowledge but Paul Feyerabend, an Austrian-born philosopher of science presents one of the most thought provoking accounts of science in contemporary times in his “anarchism” which has seriously challenged the supposed rational image of science. Fundamentally, Feyerabend believes that the whole notion of a methodology of science is illusive, arguing that science is essentially an archaistic enterprise. Therefore, “theoretical anarchism” according to Feyerabend, is a more humanitarian and more likely to encourage progress than its law-and order alternative. In any case, we shall see later that Feyerabend upheld this view only as a means to argue for a more viable and pragmatic philosophy of science. In doing this, we shall assume the following steps: * Brief History of Feyerabend * The Meaning of Anarchism * The Principles of “Anything Goes” * Epistemological Anarchism * The Views of Some Scholars * Critique of Feyerabend * Evaluation/Conclusion
Brief History of Feyerabend
Paul Feyerabend (b.1924, d.1994), having studied science at the University of Vienna, moved into philosophy for his doctoral thesis, made a name for himself both as an expositor and (later) as a critic of Karl Popper 's ‘critical rationalism’, and went on to become one of this century 's most famous philosophers of science. An imaginative maverick, he became a critic of philosophy of science itself, particularly of ‘rationalist’ attempts to lay down or discover rules of scientific method.
The Meaning of Anarchism
Anarchism is a derivative of the Greek word “anarchos” which means “without government”. It is opposed to all forms of government and its primary claim is that individual freedom should be absolute. A hard core anarchist would be therefore, uphold that the highest attainment of humanity is the freedom of the individual to express
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