Paul Feyerabend is one of the greatest philosophers of science of the 20th centu
ry and his book "Against Method" is an international bestseller. In this new boo
k 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 ev
entually led to the entrenchment of a mythical 'scientific worldview'.In this wi
de-ranging and accessible book Feyerabend challenges some modern myths about sci
ence, including the myth that 'science is successful'. He argues that some very
basic assumptions about science are simply false and that substantial parts of s
cientific ideology were created on the basis of superficial generalizations that
led to absurdmisconceptions about the nature of human life. Far from solving th
e pressing problems of our age, such as war and poverty, scientific theorizing g
lorifies ephemeral generalities, at the cost of confrontingthe 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 o
ur thoughts and ourexperience, resulting in the degeneration of both. Theoretici
ans, as opposed to practitioners, tend to impose a tyranny on the concepts they
use, abstracting away from the subjective experience that makeslife meaningful.
Feyerabend concludes by arguing that practical experience is a better guide to r
eality 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 Fey
erabend's last books and one of his best. It will be widely read by everyone int
erested in the role that science has played, and continues to play, in the shapi
ng of the modern world.
