The Tyranny of Science

Paul K. Feyerabend

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English

Polity Press
01 April 2011

Paul Feyerabend is one of the greatest philosophers of science of the 20th century and his book Against Method is an international bestseller. In this new book he masterfully weaves together the main elements of his mature philosophy into a gripping tale: the story of the rise of rationalism in Ancient Greece that eventually led to the entrenchment of a mythical ‘scientific worldview’.

In this wide-ranging and accessible book Feyerabend challenges some modern myths about science, including the myth that ‘science is successful’. He argues that some very basic assumptions about science are simply false and that substantial parts of scientific ideology were created on the basis of superficial generalizations that led to absurd

misconceptions about the nature of human life. Far from solving the pressing problems of our age, such as war and poverty, scientific theorizing glorifies ephemeral generalities, at the cost of confronting

the real particulars that make life meaningful. Objectivity and generality are based on abstraction, and as such, they come at a high price. For abstraction drives a wedge between our thoughts and our

experience, resulting in the degeneration of both. Theoreticians, as opposed to practitioners, tend to impose a tyranny on the concepts they use, abstracting away from the subjective experience that makes

life meaningful. Feyerabend concludes by arguing that practical experience is a better guide to reality than any theory, by itself, ever could be, and he stresses that there is no tyranny that cannot be resisted, even if it is exerted with the best possible intentions.

Provocative and iconoclastic, The Tyranny of Science is one of Feyerabend’s last books and one of his best. It will be widely read by everyone interested in the role that science has played, and continues to play, in the shaping of the modern world.

By: Paul K. Feyerabend
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 213mm, Width: 137mm, Spine: 10mm
Weight: 204g
ISBN: 9780745651903
ISBN 10: 0745651909
Pages: 180
Publication Date: 01 April 2011
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul Feyerabend was one of the twentieth century's leading philosophers of science. His most well-known books are Against Method and Science in a Free Society.

Reviews for The Tyranny of Science

Feyerabend is not attacking science but rather the ideology of science and the metaphysical pronouncements of philosophers and theoreticians. He makes an eloquent and imaginative plea for the importance of the diverse forms of knowledge embodied in the practicalities of everyday life. David Bloor, University of Edinburgh The Tyranny of Science is no work of arid scholarship or technical philosophy. It is the work of a philosophical story-teller who recounts 'fairytales' to situate the ideas he discusses. Feyerabend brings science and philosophy down from the heights of abstract theory to the ground of practice and experience which animates them. Howard Sankey, University of Melbourne