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Rationality of Scientific Knowledge From the Point of View of Feyerabend

Zali, Farshid | 2011

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 42159 (42)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Philosophy of Science
  6. Advisor(s): ZibaKalam, Saeed
  7. Abstract:
  8. Feyerabend was a philosopher of science that became famous for his purportedly anarchistic view of science and his rejection of the existence of universal methodological rules and rationality of science. Feyerabend’s view of science can be summarize in a few points; 1. On the issue of falsifiability, Feyerabend argues that no theory is ever consistent with all the relevant facts. He sees the use of ad-hoc postulates to save the dominant paradigm as an essential to the progress of science. He claims that scientists frequently depart completely from the scientific method when they use ad-hoc ideas to explain observations that are only later justified by theory. To Feyerabend, ad-hoc hypotheses play a central role; they temporarily make a new theory compatible with facts until the theory to be defended can be supported by other theories. 2. On the issue of paradigm shifts, Feyerabend emphasises Kuhn’s idea that the reigning paradigm heavily influences interpretation of observed phenomena. However, he adds to this by suggesting that in the paradigm model, the reigning paradigm would also have a stifling influence on the incoming theory; instead of being dictated by agreement with observation alone, the new theory must also agree with the old in almost every instance. 3. Epistemological anarchism; putting the two points above together, Feyerabend concludes that it is impossible to view the progress of science in terms of one set of methodological rules that is always used by scientists; such a ”scientific method’ would in fact limit the activities of scientists and restrict scientific progress. Instead of operating according to universal and fixed rules, Feyerabend suggests that science often progresses by ad-hoc postulates that break the rules; this ‘anything goes’ view is formally known as epistemological anarchism. 4. Science and Society: the doctrine of epistemological anarchism is considered Feyerabend’s major contribution, However, he also had a major point to make about science and society. Starting from the view that a universal scientific method does not exist, Feyerabend goes on to argue that science therefore does not deserve its privileged status in western society. Since scientific points of view do not arise from using a universal method which guarantees high-quality conclusions, there is no justification for valuing scientific claims over claims by other ideologies like religion. Indeed, he was quite indignant about the condescending attitudes of many scientists towards alternative traditions such as astrology and complementary medicine. In Feyerabend’s view, science can be a repressing ideology in society instead of a liberating movement; he thought that a pluralistic society should be protected from being influenced too much by science, just as it is protected from other ideologies.
  9. Keywords:
  10. Epistemology ; Science ; Scientific Progress ; Methodology ; Rationalism ; Anarchism

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