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Feyerabend and Scientific Values

Tightrope-Walking Rationality

  • Book
  • © 2003

Overview

Authors:
  1. Robert P. Farrell

    1. School of Liberal Arts, The University of Newcastle, Australia

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  • Constitutes the first book-length study of Feyerabend's post-1970 philosophy
  • An invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the views of one of the most influential philosophers of science of the twentieth century
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 235)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 1-4

  3. Feyerabend’s Reductio Ad Absurdum of ‘Rationalist’ Philosophies

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 5-43

  4. Feyerabend, Lakatos and Anarchism

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 44-70

  5. Feyerabend’s Incommensurability and the Pragmatic Theory of Observation

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 71-99

  6. Feyerabend’s Relativism

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 100-132

  7. Feyerabend and Pluralism

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 133-146

  8. Popper, Methodological Pluralism and Epistemic Values

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 147-162

  9. Kuhn on Paradigms, Rules and Values

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 163-187

  10. Tightrope-Walking Rationality: Feyerabend’s Metanarrative

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 188-213

  11. Feyerabend and World-Views

    • Robert P. Farrell
    Pages 214-236

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 237-259
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Keywords

About this book

Every philosopher of science, and every student of the philosophy of science, has heard of Paul Feyerabend: the iconoclast who supposedly asserted that science is not rational, nor objective, but is characterised by anarchism, relativism, subjectivism and power. In this book it is argued that this picture of Feyerabend is false. Though Feyerabend was an iconoclast, his destructive philosophy was also creative. Feyerabend was deeply critical of a particular theory of scientific rationality, herein labelled 'Rationalism' - characterised as the algorithmic application of universal, necessary, atemporal rules - but he did not completely reject the idea of scientific rationality. It is argued that Feyerabend implicitly supported an alternative theory of rationality, herein labelled tightrope-walking rationality, characterised as the context-sensitive balancing of inherently irreconcilable values.
The first half of the book deals with the entrenched misunderstandings of Feyerabend's philosophy that have arisen through a lack of appreciation of the target of Feyerabend's criticisms. The second half of the book brings together the positive elements to be found in Feyerabend's work, and presents these elements as a coherent alternative conception of scientific rationality.

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Liberal Arts, The University of Newcastle, Australia

    Robert P. Farrell

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Feyerabend and Scientific Values

  • Book Subtitle: Tightrope-Walking Rationality

  • Authors: Robert P. Farrell

  • Series Title: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1542-3

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2003

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-1350-8Published: 30 September 2003

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-90-481-6309-0Published: 09 December 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-017-1542-3Published: 29 June 2013

  • Series ISSN: 0068-0346

  • Series E-ISSN: 2214-7942

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 259

  • Topics: Philosophy of Science, Modern Philosophy, Logic

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