A Critical Review of Paul Feyerabend’s Social Thought Cover Image

Paulio Feyerabendo socialinės minties kritinė apžvalga
A Critical Review of Paul Feyerabend’s Social Thought

Author(s): Saulenė Pučiliauskaitė
Subject(s): Epistemology, Social Philosophy, Social Theory
Published by: Visuomeninė organizacija »LOGOS«
Keywords: Mind; goodbye mind; extension of personality; relativism; tradition;

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the social thought of Paul Feyerabend. If the slogan of this philosopher’s epistemological anarchism is ‘anything goes’, his social thought is characterized by the slogan ‘farewell to reason’. In countering the dangers which excessive rationalism may cause in the human personality, Feyerabend suggests that a person ‘step outside’ her/his fundamental convictions, which make her/him human and duely evaluate the merits of the relativism of traditions. Nevertheless the article purports to show that the incitement to bid ‘farewell to reason’ is not executable in practice. ‘Reason’ is not a ‘tradition’, equal with others, but it is an instrument of the evaluation of traditions. Thus a paradox arises: the incitement to bid ‘farewell to reason’ must be conceived reasonably.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 110
  • Page Range: 17-23
  • Page Count: 7
  • Language: Lithuanian