Is easy to define progress at the major part of philosophy of science. But, when comes to the anarchist theory of knowledge, how Feyerabend define it? There are any definition?
I have read quite a few of Feyerabend's works and I do not think that he came up with an actual definition of progress. In fact, I believe that this would be contrary to his core beliefs as I understand them. In a nutshell, I would argue that he would rather speak of change rather than calling it progress. Pluralism was more important for him than identifying the one best theory or solution. Instead he argues that a lot of truth can be found in the writings from the past (e.g., Aristotle) even though not everything might be "correct" according to our current understanding. In other words it is often the case that theories are not either true or false. I have two papers using his approach as a starting point which you might find helpful.
Article The Philosopher's Corner:: Paul Feyerabend and the Art of Ep...
Article Taking Feyerabend to the Next Level: On Linear Thinking, Ind...
I have read quite a few of Feyerabend's works and I do not think that he came up with an actual definition of progress. In fact, I believe that this would be contrary to his core beliefs as I understand them. In a nutshell, I would argue that he would rather speak of change rather than calling it progress. Pluralism was more important for him than identifying the one best theory or solution. Instead he argues that a lot of truth can be found in the writings from the past (e.g., Aristotle) even though not everything might be "correct" according to our current understanding. In other words it is often the case that theories are not either true or false. I have two papers using his approach as a starting point which you might find helpful.
Article The Philosopher's Corner:: Paul Feyerabend and the Art of Ep...
Article Taking Feyerabend to the Next Level: On Linear Thinking, Ind...
Paul Feyerabend addresses his anarchist theory of knowledge in Against Method and, according to this view, there are no exceptionless (or useful) methodological rules that govern either the progress of science or the growth of knowledge in general. He also argues that the history of science offers no help in this regard because it does not exhibit any clearly identifiable general methodology across time. Feyerabend also extends this analysis to conceptions of scientific method developed by other philosophers such as Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos, since he claims that the phenomenon of incommensurability renders the standard used for comparing theories inapplicable. Unlike Kuhn, who attempted to downplay accusations of 'irrationalism' in his The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Feyerabend seemed to embrace the label of 'irrationalist' (which he contrasted against the 'rationalism' exemplified by early to mid-20th century philosophy of science).
Thank you for responding.
Mrs. Horst Treiblmaier , I truly appreciate your comment.
I used "progress", almost as a generic term, to refers to a question: how can he define that a field of research is now greater than it was one hundre years ago?
As you also said, the plurarism plays an important role here. So, can i link the amount of methodologies in a field with the idea of progress, in the context of anarchist theory of knowledge?
And i will read your work. It seems really interesting.
Júlio César da Silva Dantas , you are welcome. I do not think that you could argue that the amount of methods alone can signal progress. I assume that Feyerabend would refrain from trying to operationalize progress in the first place. Pluralism just goes hand in hand with tolerance. He wants to give every methodological approach and theory a fair chance and argues that even "old" (and "rejected") theories might have some value since they might be based on a shaky foundation. The problem with Feyerabend is that many people who use his "against method" slogan have not really read his work. Apart from his famous book I can also recommend the exchange with Lakatos which nicely illustrates his thinking:
https://www.amazon.com/Against-Method-Scientific-Lakatos-Feyerabend-Correspondence-ebook/dp/B004MKMWLE/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=for+and+against+method&qid=1590692254&s=books&sr=1-2
- Badges
- Science method
- Similar topics
- Philosophy