Research seminar
Speaker: Professor Martin Kusch (Vienna)
Title: "'Anything Goes'? Feyerabend's Against Method Revisited"
Abstract: In this paper I offer a new interpretation and defense of Feyerabend’s epistemic “anarchism” and relativism in the 1976 (first) edition of Against Method (=AM). I will use concepts and ideas from van Fraassen and Boghossian as foils. I shall argue that:
- the anarchism of AM is best taken as a “stance” rather than a "doctrine";
- AM advocates a radical version of "epistemic voluntarism";
- AM's anarchism and voluntarism are distinct from its epistemic relativism and pluralism;
- AM's account of scientific revolutions is more plausible than van Fraassen's; and
- AM's account of the conflict between Galileo and the Catholic Church is superior to Boghossian's rendering.
Contact
Mar 13 2019
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Research seminar
2019-03-13: Special research seminar
Room G32, Psychology Building, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ