Sull'orlo della scienza: Pro e contro il metodo

by Paul Karl Feyerabend, Matteo Motterlini (Editor), Imre Lakatos

L'epistolario tra Feyerabend, autore di "Contro il metodo", e Lakatos, ideatore della metodologia dei programmi di ricerca scientifica: un confronto intellettuale tra i più significativi della filosofia della scienza del Novecento.

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Nonfiction, Mathematics, History Of Science

391 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Paul Karl Feyerabend was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades (1958–1989).

His life was a peripatetic one, as he lived at various times in England, the United States, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, and finally Switzerland. His major works include Against Method (published in 1975), Science in a Free Society (published in 1978) and Farewell to Reason (a collection of papers published in 1987). Feyerabend became famous for his purportedly anarchistic view of science and his rejection of the existence of universal methodological rules. He is an influential figure in the philosophy of science, and also in the sociology of scientific knowledge.

Reviews

[Conrad]

Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend, their father figure Karl Popper, and their adjunct Thomas Kuhn - it's hard not to think of these four philosophers as being of a piece, even (especially?) when they disagree, because their disagreements were usually so exceedingly affectionate. So reading the correspondence between Lakatos and Feyerabend is peeking into the workaday lives of a cadre of philosophers. They talk about womanizing, Berkeley politics, travel, conferences, etc. They also talk about their philosophical concerns (mostly the effectiveness of science as a predictive tool, its simliarities/dissimilarities with other ways of knowing, its cultural uniqueness in the West) in these sometimes unprompted, unrehearsed and underdigested letters.

The upside is you can read Lakatos's masterpiece Proofs and Refutations all day and never quite understand what's behind the text, but here, he just lays it all out. You also get a portrait of the firebrand Feyerabend as a middle-aged wonk that is pretty contrary to all the molotov cocktail-throwing in his published writings.

The downside is that a lot of this correspondence is really boring.

For people who are interested in Popper and his philosophical progeny, this may be valuable. For others, these are not the droids you're looking for.

[Joshua Stein]

Unfortunately, this book is somewhat confused in terms of subject matter. It is presented as an account of the philosophy of science of Feyerabend and Lakatos, and (in the early sections) that is exactly what it delivers, with good scholarly analysis and interesting papers by both.

But when it gets into the correspondence, it really becomes quite a different book, simultaneously about politics and personal lives, academic and financial struggles. The correspondence is enormously interesting, but serves to cast very little light on the philosophy of science proper.

All in all, For and Against Method is two excellent short books. I strongly recommend the first half to those interested in the historical era's philosophy of science and the latter to those interested in the history of modern philosophy.

Compositionally, the book is necessarily herky-jerky. But the two independent sections, if treated as such, are very good, and very thoughtfully annotated. It is definitely a rewarding read.

[Peter]

<< The only theoretical restriction (or "definition") of science which I am prepared to tolerate is what follows from a principle of general hedonism: all those elements of science which are inconsistent with hedonism must go (which, of course, does not mean that people will be forbidden to be masochistic; only that they should exercise their masochism privately and not advertise it as a principle of truth, or of professional integrity, thus misleading themselves and everyone else; they can even be sadists; but again they should choose their friends not by misleading propaganda -- "you are now going to do the most important thing that man has invented," but honestly (not in the "professional" sense): "I am a sadist; you are a masochist; so let us have some fun together"). >>

Unfortunately, even a shining light such as Lakatos rather fatally misunderstands probabilism.

[Alvaro de Menard]

Fairly pointless. The main arguments presented in this book have been expressed better elsewhere. Most of the book consists of Lakatos' and Feyerabend's correspondence, but aside from a few funny items those letters hold little interest.

[Noir]

The historical approach to philosophy of science is well covered in the lectures and papers written by Lakatos and Feyerabend. The latter half of this book is separate to this--a personal correspondence between two men that unearths a witty and fun relationship.

I thoroughly enjoyed the latter as that was my main drive for uncovering this book originally. A rewarding and enjoyable read.

[Pent]

There is really only one idea worth discussing here, the idea that modern science doesn't have or need a strict method to get to insightful conclusions about reality. This book in particular is about 99% filler, detailing the discussion between Feyerabend and Lakatos, read a summary instead.

[calamo currente]

una lectura de lo más entretenida... muy de acuerdo con Lakatos en eso de que el éxito y la permanencia de la filosofía de Popper sea un misterio sociológico, aunque me temo que lo mismo puede decirse de la suya propia. "The Open Society by One of Its Enemies."

[Giorgio]

Quase dei 3 estrelas, mas os pensadores valem mais do que o formato deste livro.

[Michael Tranchina]

I would love to write a more thorough review. This book illustrates the unconventional radical thinker Feyerabend, and his impact on the equally great thinker Lakatos, who refined the ideas of Kuhn and added to our understanding of the Philosophy of Science.

[Leanne]

I had not realized that F's Against Method was originally supposed to be co-written with Lakatos--or that Lakatos had had such a backstory of his own, which you can read here https://www.lrb.co.uk/v22/n02/ian-hac...

Fererabend was a celebrity when I was in the Philosophy department at Cal and I have long loved his book Against Method. He remained a kind of Socrates Gadfly throughout.

I hate to age myself but I do feel nostalgic about the old days when people exchanged letters. The letters of these two close friends were utterly charming, reminding me something of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West. Great stuff.

[Nelly]

I only read the Lakatos lectures and they were definitely interesting!

[pedro gabriel b.]

great book!