to be progressive, even anarchy requires guidelines.“
Feyeraband may have attempted to revolutionize empiricism but he certainly didn't operate outside of it. Its interesting to note that anything tangible credited to his influence or suggestion has empirical backing.
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he was a philosopher of science. And he was not revolutionizing empiricism, but pointing out that 'science' even orthodox science has made advances using so many different methologies that it is misleading to call them all empiricism. I would also disagree with that second sentence. His influence has been at a meta-level to research, so much of it is backed up by analysis, deduction, showing of examples, etc.
# Science is an essentially anarchistic enterprise: theoretical anarchism is more humanitarian and more likely to encourage progress than its law-and-order alternatives.
Frankly this strikes me more as an antithesis to a dominant paradigm than a thesis (IOW a reactionary response a paradigm that is stifling as opposed to laying out a paradigm)
anything goes .... as long as it delivers the goods.# This is shown both by an examination of historical episodes and by an abstract analysis of the relation between idea and action. The only principle that does not inhibit progress is: anything goes.
IOW science without the demonstrative doesn't look good
words like "advance" can only be in use if there are guidelines in place to grant meaning# For example, we may use hypotheses that contradict well-confirmed theories and/or well-established experimental results. We may advance science by proceeding counter-inductively.
once again, the power of a theory is to have the goods on the table.# The consistency condition which demands that new hypotheses agree with accepted theories is unreasonable because it preserves the older theory, and not the better theory. Hypotheses contradicting well-confirmed theories give us evidence that cannot be obtained in any other way. Proliferation of theories is beneficial for science, while uniformity impairs its critical power. Uniformity also endangers the free development of the individual.
For instance there isn't much credibility to the theory that the moon is made of cheese, even though it stands to upset the current status quo quite considerably.
Obviously this is an absurd take on his statements. As mentioned earlier, its things like this which make me think he is offering more of an antithesis, or a critique of existing standards .... as opposed to introducing a whole new standard
# There is no idea, however ancient and absurd, that is not capable of improving our knowledge. The whole history of thought is absorbed into science and is used for improving every single theory. Nor is political interference rejected. It may be needed to overcome the chauvinism of science that resists alternatives to the status quo.
heh
viva la revolution!
Imagine if people took the title of his book deadly seriously and rejected the standard method of reading, and instead licked the pages?“
that's why I suggest there's a need to gauge what constitutes an "investigation"
(I think the answer lies in the normative requirements of the discipline .... much to the horror of Feyeraband I guess)
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Bad guess, note the title of his most contentious book Against Method.
IOW one gets refamiliarized with sanity when they examine the normative guidelines that surround the issue. Of course an issue can get so corrupted by institutionalism, hegemony, or whatever as to reduce its practicality/functionality considerably. Hence there is a constant discourse of thesis being critiqued by antithesis to form a synthesis .... which then goes on to become the new thesis and so on ...
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much like thesis -> antithesis -> synthesis is essentially anarchistic# Science is an essentially anarchistic enterprise: theoretical anarchism is more humanitarian and more likely to encourage progress than its law-and-order alternatives.
my point is that the nuts and bolts of science is empiricism. IOW the playing field is the senses (even though the strategies may call upon a host of mental tools such as extrapolation, logic, or even scientific politics, etc)”
Of course perhaps you meant he would be horrified by restrictions. Sure, if they were put on all scientists. He was calling for a radical expansion in potential methodologies and pointing out that, really, this had always been the case.
given that we can't achieve by drumming or chanting what can achieve by reaching for the saw in the right way (or for that matter, chanting with a saw also may not prove so effective), each action withe each tool "converts" us as much as is practically required to do the task.“
In a sense they do "convert" you.
Of course a screw driver has no need to convert your value system, but it certainly "converts" your body to the requirement of the tool's use (perhaps if you were extremely dexterous you could clasp it with your feet)
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Or you reach for the saw, going back to your original choice. Or you starting drumming or chanting or......whatever.
Trying to cheapen it through one too many short cuts gives results that are not only unsatisfactory but also frequently inhibiting or dangerous.