Science in Feyerabend’s Free Society

Abstract

Paul Feyerabend’s latest book, Science in a Free Society, is certain to intrigue some, appall others, and infuriate many.1 In a free society, he claims, there should be a separation of science and state, just as there is a separation of church and state. This should be so because (1) science is only one of many traditions or ideologies, (2) a free society is one in which there is equality among traditions or ideologies, and (3) society’s preferred treatment of science in education, medicine, and so on (making it the “fabric of democracy”) violates the rights of other traditions. A central concern of the book is whether modern science can be shown to be better than alternatives such as magic or Aristotelian science. Feyerabend argues that it cannot. But there is much more to the book: Feyerabend examines the relation between reason and practice, tames the specter of relativism conjured up by his views, attacks modern medicine, and spends a good many pages debunking experts and exposing the low caliber of contemporary philosophy of science. Just as in his Against Method (AM), one can find “… arguments to make rationalists feel at home, arias in various keys to please the more dramatic reader, fairy tales to capture the Romantic,…rhetoric for those who like a hard-hitting debate with no holds barred,…personal remarks for people who rightly feel that ideas are made by men and that one understands them better more one knows about the minds that create them” (180). Feyerabend disappoints neither friend nor foe.KeywordsFairy TaleFree SocietyMethodological GroundFaith HealerFuture CitizenThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.