Description |
xii, 234 pages ; 24 cm |
Series |
Key contemporary thinkers |
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Key contemporary thinkers (Cambridge, England)
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Contents |
Introduction: Feyerabend's Life and Work -- Ch. 1. Philosophy and the Aim of Science -- Ch. 2. Meaning: The Attack on Positivism -- Ch. 3. Theories of Observation -- Ch. 4. Scientific Realism and Instrumentalism -- Ch. 5. Theoretical Monism -- Ch. 6. Incommensurability -- Ch. 7. Theoretical Pluralism -- Ch. 8. Materialism -- Ch. 9. Science without Method -- Ch. 10. Relativism, Rationalism and a Free Society |
Summary |
This book is the first comprehensive critical study of the work of Paul Feyerabend, one of the foremost twentieth-century philosophers of science. The book traces the evolution of Feyerabend's thought, beginning with his early attempt to graft insights from Wittgenstein's conception of meaning onto Popper's falsificationist philosophy. The key elements of Feyerabend's model of the acquisition of knowledge are identified and critically evaluated. Feyerabend's early work emerges as a contribution to the historical approach to science with which he is usually associated. In his more notorious later work, Feyerabend claimed that there was, and should be, no such thing as the scientific method. The roots of Feyerabend's 'epistemological anarchism' are exposed and the weaknesses of his cultural relativism are brought out |
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Throughout the book, Preston discusses the influence of Feyerabend's thought on contemporary philosophers and traces his stimulating but divided legacy. The book will be of interest to students of philosophy, methodology and the social sciences |
Notes |
Bibliography: p223-230. _ Includes index |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
Subject |
Feyerabend, Paul, 1924-1994.
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Feyerabend, Paul, 1924-1994 -- Criticism and interpretation.
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Philosophers -- Austria.
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Science -- Philosophy.
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LC no. |
97010139 |
ISBN |
0745616763 paperback alkaline paper |
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0745616755 alkaline paper |
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