Paul Feyerabend's Books

Against Method

By: Paul Feyerabend

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Modern philosophy of science has paid great attention to the understanding of scientific 'practice', in contrast to concentration on scientific 'method'. Paul Feyerabend's acclaimed work, which has contributed greatly to this new emphasis, shows the deficiencies of some widespread ideas about the nature of knowledge. He argues that the only feasible explanations of scientific successes are historical explanations, and that anarchism must now replace rationalism in the theory of knowledge. The third edition of this classic text contains a new preface and additional reflections at various points in which the author takes account both of recent debates on science and on the impact of scientific products and practices on the human community. While disavowing populism or relativism, Feyerabend continues to insist that the voice of the inexpert must be heard. Thus many environmental perils were first identified by non-experts against prevailing assumptions in the scientific community. Feyerabend's challenging reassessment of scientific claims and understandings are as pungent and timely as ever.

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308

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Verso

Published Date

ISBN 10

0860916464

ISBN 13

9780860916468

Farewell to Reason

By: Paul Feyerabend

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Farewell to Reason

By: Paul Feyerabend

Farewell to Reason offers a vigorous challenge to the scientific rationalism that underlies Western ideals of "progress" and "development," whose damaging social and ecological consequences are now widely recognized. For all their variety in theme and occasion, the essays in this book share a consistent philosophical purpose. Whether discussing Greek art and thought, vindicating the church's battle with Galileo, exploring the development of quantum physics or exposing the dogmatism of Karl Popper, Feyerabend defends a relativist and historicist notion of the sciences. The appeal to reason, he insists, is empty, and must be replaced by a notion of science that subordinates it to the needs of citizens and communities. Provocative, polemical and rigorously argued, Farewell to Reason will infuriate Feyerabend's critics and delight his many admirers.

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430

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Verso Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789607434

ISBN 13

9781789607437

Philosophy of Nature

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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Philosophy of Nature

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

Philosopher, physicist, and anarchist Paul Feyerabend was one of the most unconventional scholars of his time. His book Against Method has become a modern classic. Yet it is not well known that Feyerabend spent many years working on a philosophy of nature that was intended to comprise three volumes covering the period from the earliest traces of stone age cave paintings to the atomic physics of the 20th century – a project that, as he conveyed in a letter to Imre Lakatos, almost drove him nuts: “Damn the ,Naturphilosophie.” The book’s manuscript was long believed to have been lost. Recently, however, a typescript constituting the first volume of the project was unexpectedly discovered at the University of Konstanz. In this volume Feyerabend explores the significance of myths for the early period of natural philosophy, as well as the transition from Homer’s “aggregate universe” to Parmenides’ uniform ontology. He focuses on the rise of rationalism in Greek antiquity, which he considers a disastrous development, and the associated separation of man from nature. Thus Feyerabend explores the prehistory of science in his familiar polemical and extraordinarily learned manner. The volume contains numerous pictures and drawings by Feyerabend himself. It also contains hitherto unpublished biographical material that will help to round up our overall image of one of the most influential radical philosophers of the twentieth century.

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295

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745692990

ISBN 13

9780745692999

Killing Time

The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend

By: Paul Feyerabend

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Killing Time

The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend

By: Paul Feyerabend

Killing Time is the story of Paul Feyerabend's life. Trained in physics and astronomy, Feyerabend was best known as a philosopher of science. His fame was in powerful, plain-spoken critiques of "big" science and "big" philosophy.

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216

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226245322

ISBN 13

9780226245324

Against Method

Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge

By: Paul Feyerabend

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Against Method

Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge

By: Paul Feyerabend

Paul Feyerabend's globally acclaimed work, which sparked and continues to stimulate fierce debate, examines the deficiencies of many widespread ideas about scientific progress and the nature of knowledge. Feyerabend argues that scientific advances can only be understood in a historical context. He looks at the way the philosophy of science has consistently overemphasized practice over method, and considers the possibility that anarchism could replace rationalism in the theory of knowledge. This updated edition of the classic text includes a new introduction by Ian Hacking, one of the most important contemporary philosophers of science. Hacking reflects on both Feyerabend's life and personality as well as the broader significance of the book for current discussions.

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437

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Verso Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789600979

ISBN 13

9781789600971

Science in a Free Society

By: Paul Feyerabend

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Science in a Free Society

By: Paul Feyerabend

No study in the philosophy of science created such controversy in the seventies as Paul Feyerabend's Against Method. In this work, Feyerabend reviews that controversy, and extends his critique beyond the problem of scientific rules and methods, to the social function and direction of science today. In the first part of the book, he launches a sustained and irreverent attack on the prestige of science in the West. The lofty authority of the "expert" claimed by scientists is, he argues, incompatible with any genuine democracy, and often merely serves to conceal entrenched prejudices and divided opinions with the scientific community itself. Feyerabend insists that these can and should be subjected to the arbitration of the lay population, whose closes interests they constantly affect-as struggles over atomic energy programs so powerfully attest. Calling for far greater diversity in the content of education to facilitate democratic decisions over such issues, Feyerabend recounts the origin and development of his own ideas-successively engaged by Brecht, Ehrenhaft, Popper, Mill and Lakatos-in a spirited intellectual self-portrait. Science in a Free Society is a striking intervention into one of the most topical debates in contemporary culture and politics.

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306

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Verso Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1788731921

ISBN 13

9781788731928

Three Dialogues on Knowledge

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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Three Dialogues on Knowledge

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

The Socratic, or dialog, form is central to the history of philosophy and has been the discipline's canonical genre ever since. Paul Feyerabend's Three Dialogues on Knowledge resurrects the form to provide an astonishingly flexible and invigorating analysis of epistemological, ethical and metaphysical problems. He uses literary strategies - of irony, voice and distance - to make profoundly philosophical points about the epistemic, existential and political aspects of common sense and scientific knowledge. He writes about ancient and modern relativism; the authority of science; the ignorance of scientists; the nature of being; and true and false enlightenment. Throughout Three Dialogues on Knowledge is provocative, controversial and inspiring. It is, unlike most current philosophical writing, written for readers with a keen sense of what matters and why.

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179

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0631179186

ISBN 13

9780631179184

For and Against Method

Including Lakatos's Lectures on Scientific Method and the Lakatos-Feyerabend Correspondence

By: Imre Lakatos,Paul Feyerabend

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For and Against Method

Including Lakatos's Lectures on Scientific Method and the Lakatos-Feyerabend Correspondence

By: Imre Lakatos,Paul Feyerabend

The work that helped to determine Paul Feyerabend's fame and notoriety, Against Method, stemmed from Imre Lakatos's challenge: "In 1970 Imre cornered me at a party. 'Paul,' he said, 'you have such strange ideas. Why don't you write them down? I shall write a reply, we publish the whole thing and I promise you—we shall have a lot of fun.' " Although Lakatos died before he could write his reply, For and Against Method reconstructs his original counter-arguments from lectures and correspondence previously unpublished in English, allowing us to enjoy the "fun" two of this century's most eminent philosophers had, matching their wits and ideas on the subject of the scientific method. For and Against Method opens with an imaginary dialogue between Lakatos and Feyerabend, which Matteo Motterlini has constructed, based on their published works, to synthesize their positions and arguments. Part one presents the transcripts of the last lectures on method that Lakatos delivered. Part two, Feyerabend's response, consists of a previously published essay on anarchism, which began the attack on Lakatos's position that Feyerabend later continued in Against Method. The third and longest section consists of the correspondence Lakatos and Feyerabend exchanged on method and many other issues and ideas, as well as the events of their daily lives, between 1968 and Lakatos's death in 1974. The delight Lakatos and Feyerabend took in philosophical debate, and the relish with which they sparred, come to life again in For and Against Method, making it essential and lively reading for anyone interested in these two fascinating and controversial thinkers and their immense contributions to philosophy of science. "The writings in this volume are of considerable intellectual importance, and will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the development of the philosophical views of Lakatos and Feyerabend, or indeed with the development of philosophy of science in general during this crucial period."—Donald Gillies, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (on the Italian edition) "A stimulating exchange of letters between two philosophical entertainers."—Tariq Ali, The Independent Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) was professor of logic at the London School of Economics. He was the author of Proofs and Refutations and the two-volume Philosophical Papers. Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994) was educated in Europe and held numerous teaching posts throughout his career. Among his books are Against Method; Science in a Free Society; Farewell to Reason; and Killing Time: The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend, the last published by the University of Chicago Press.

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465

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226467031

ISBN 13

9780226467030

Realism, Rationalism and Scientific Method: Volume 1

Philosophical Papers

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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Realism, Rationalism and Scientific Method: Volume 1

Philosophical Papers

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

Over the past thirty years Paul Feyerabend has developed an extremely distinctive and influentical approach to problems in the philosophy of science. The most important and seminal of his published essays are collected here in two volumes, with new introductions to provide an overview and historical perspective on the discussions of each part. Volume 1 presents papers on the interpretation of scientific theories, together with papers applying the views developed to particular problems in philosophy and physics. The essays in volume 2 examine the origin and history of an abstract rationalism, as well as its consequences for the philosophy of science and methods of scientific research. Professor Feyerabend argues with great force and imagination for a comprehensive and opportunistic pluralism. In doing so he draws on extensive knowledge of scientific history and practice, and he is alert always to the wider philosophical, practical and political implications of conflicting views. These two volumes fully display the variety of his ideas, and confirm the originality and significance of his work.

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368

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Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521228972

ISBN 13

9780521228978

The Worst Enemy of Science?

Essays in Memory of Paul Feyerabend

By: Paul Feyerabend

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The Worst Enemy of Science?

Essays in Memory of Paul Feyerabend

By: Paul Feyerabend

This stimulating collection is devoted to the life and work of the most flamboyant of twentieth-century philosophers, Paul Feyerabend. Feyerabend's radical epistemological claims, and his stunning argument that there is no such thing as scientific method, were highly influential during his life and have only gained attention since his death in 1994. The essays that make up this volume, written by some of today's most respected philosophers of science, many of whom knew Feyerabend as students and colleagues, cover the diverse themes in his extensive body of work and present a personal account of this fascinating thinker.

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190

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Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195128745

ISBN 13

9780195128741

Problems of Empiricism: Volume 2

Philosophical Papers

By: Paul Feyerabend

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Problems of Empiricism: Volume 2

Philosophical Papers

By: Paul Feyerabend

Volume 1 presents papers on the interpretation of scientific theories, together with papers applying the views developed to particular problems in philosophy and physics. The essays in volume 2 examine the origin and history of an abstract rationalism, as well as its consequences for the philosophy of science and methods of scientific research.

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272

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Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521316413

ISBN 13

9780521316415

Realism, Rationalism and Scientific Method: Volume 1

Philosophical Papers

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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Realism, Rationalism and Scientific Method: Volume 1

Philosophical Papers

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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368

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Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521316421

ISBN 13

9780521316422

Conquest of Abundance

A Tale of Abstraction Versus the Richness of Being

By: Paul Feyerabend

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Conquest of Abundance

A Tale of Abstraction Versus the Richness of Being

By: Paul Feyerabend

From flea bites to galaxies, from love affairs to shadows, Paul Feyerabend reveled in the sensory and intellectual abundance that surrounds us. He found it equally striking that human senses and human intelligence are able to take in only a fraction of these riches. "This a blessing, not a drawback," he writes. "A superconscious organism would not be superwise, it would be paralyzed." This human reduction of experience to a manageable level is the heart of Conquest of Abundance, the book on which Feyerabend was at work when he died in 1994. Prepared from drafts of the manuscript left at his death, working notes, and lectures and articles Feyerabend wrote while the larger work was in progress, Conquest of Abundance offers up rich exploration and startling insights with the charm, lucidity, and sense of mischief that are his hallmarks. Feyerabend is fascinated by how we attempt to explain and predict the mysteries of the natural world, and he looks at the ways in which we abstract experience, explain anomalies, and reduce wonder to formulas and equations. Through his exploration of the positive and negative consequences of these efforts, Feyerabend reveals the "conquest of abundance" as an integral part of the history and character of Western civilization. "Paul Feyerabend . . . was the Norman Mailer of philosophy. . . . brilliant, brave, adventurous, original and quirky."—Richard Rorty, New Republic "As much a smudged icon as a philosophical position holder, [Feyerabend] was alluring and erotic, a torch singer for philosophical anarchy."—Nancy Maull, New York Times Book Review "[A] kind of final testament of Feyerabend's thought . . . Conquest of Abundance is as much the product of a brilliant, scintillating style as of an immense erudition and culture. . . . This book is as abundant and rich as the world it envisions."—Arkady Plotnitsky, Chicago Tribune

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308

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226245349

ISBN 13

9780226245348

Adiós a la razón

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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Adiós a la razón

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

Adiós a la razón' - ¿Ciencia-grupo de presión política o instrumento de investigación? - y - Ciencia como arte son los trabajos de Paul Feyerabend que integran el presente volumen, encabezado por un prólogo a la edición castellana titulado 'Conocimiento para la supervivencia', donde queda resumido el ideal final de la filosofía del autor com las siguientes palabras - '...desarrollemos uma nueva clase de conocimiento que sea humano, no porque incorpore uma idea abstracta de humanidad, sino porque todo el mundo pueda participar em su construcción y cambio, y empleemos este conocimiento para resolver los dos problemas pendientes em la actualidad, el problema de la supervivencia y el problema de la paz; por un lado, la paz entre los humanos y, por otro, la paz entre los humanos y todo el conjunto de la Naturaleza'.

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195

Publisher

Tecnos Editorial S A

Published Date

ISBN 10

8430910719

ISBN 13

9788430910717

For and Against Method

Including Lakatos's Lectures on Scientific Method and the Lakatos-Feyerabend Correspondence

By: Imre Lakatos,Paul Feyerabend

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For and Against Method

Including Lakatos's Lectures on Scientific Method and the Lakatos-Feyerabend Correspondence

By: Imre Lakatos,Paul Feyerabend

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465

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226467031

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9780226467030

The Worst Enemy of Science?

Essays in Memory of Paul Feyerabend

By: Paul Feyerabend

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The Worst Enemy of Science?

Essays in Memory of Paul Feyerabend

By: Paul Feyerabend

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190

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Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195128745

ISBN 13

9780195128741

Systematicity

The Nature of Science

By: Paul Hoyningen-Huene

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Systematicity

The Nature of Science

By: Paul Hoyningen-Huene

In Systematicity, Paul Hoyningen-Huene answers the question "What is science?" by proposing that scientific knowledge is primarily distinguished from other forms of knowledge, especially everyday knowledge, by being more systematic. "Science" is here understood in the broadest possible sense, encompassing not only the natural sciences but also mathematics, the social sciences, and the humanities. The author develops his thesis in nine dimensions in which it is claimed that science is more systematic than other forms of knowledge: regarding descriptions, explanations, predictions, the defense of knowledge claims, critical discourse, epistemic connectedness, an ideal of completeness, knowledge generation, and the representation of knowledge. He compares his view with positions on the question held by philosophers from Aristotle to Nicholas Rescher. The book concludes with an exploration of some consequences of Hoyningen-Huene's view concerning the genesis and dynamics of science, the relationship of science and common sense, normative implications of the thesis, and the demarcation criterion between science and pseudo-science.

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304

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199985065

ISBN 13

9780199985067

On the Contrary

Critical Essays, 1987-1997

By: Paul M. Churchland,Patricia Smith Churchland

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On the Contrary

Critical Essays, 1987-1997

By: Paul M. Churchland,Patricia Smith Churchland

We mean to give our colleagues--or rather, their various philosophical positions--as rough a time as we can responsibly manage."--from the preface Paul and Patricia Churchland are towering figures in the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, and consciousness. This collection was prepared in the belief that the most useful and revealing of anyone's writings are often those much shorter essays penned in conflict with or criticism of one's professional colleagues. The essays present the Churchlands' critical responses to a variety of philosophical positions advanced by some two dozen philosophical theorists, almost all of whom are still living. The book is divided into three parts: part I, Folk Psychology and Eliminative Materialism; part II, Meaning, Qualia, and Emotion: The Several Dimensions of Consciousness; and part III, the Philosophy of Science. V. S. Ramachandran and Rick Grush are coauthors on two of the essays.

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372

Publisher

MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262032546

ISBN 13

9780262032544

Physics and Philosophy: Volume 4

Philosophical Papers

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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Physics and Philosophy: Volume 4

Philosophical Papers

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

This collection of the writings of Paul Feyerabend is focused on his philosophy of quantum physics, the hotbed of the key issues of his most debated ideas. Written between 1948 and 1970, these writings come from his first and most productive period. These early works are important for two main reasons. First, they document Feyerabend's deep concern with the philosophical implications of quantum physics and its interpretations. These ideas were paid less attention in the following two decades. Second, the writings provide the crucial background for Feyerabend's critiques of Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. Although rarely considered by scholars, Feyerabend's early work culminated in the first version of Against Method. These writings guided him on all the key issues of his most well-known and debated theses, such as the incommensurability thesis, the principles of proliferation and tenacity, and his particular version of relativism, and more specifically on quantum mechanics.

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439

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1316412067

ISBN 13

9781316412060

Philosophy of Nature

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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Philosophy of Nature

By: Paul K. Feyerabend

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288

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745694764

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9780745694764

Meaning and Method in the Social Sciences

A Case for Methodological Pluralism

By: Paul A. Roth

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Meaning and Method in the Social Sciences

A Case for Methodological Pluralism

By: Paul A. Roth

Paul A Roth's book examines an important controversy in the philosophy of the social sciences that has developed since the demise of logical positivism and its conception of rationality. Roth contends that this controversy—a dispute over the canons of rationality—is the product of the mistaken belief in methodological exclusivism. Drawing on work in contemporary epistemology by W. V. O. Quine, Richard Rorty, and Paul Feyerabend, he argues that no single theory of human behavior has methodological priority; indeed, the existence of a plethora of theories for the study of human behavior, he believes, is an inevitable consequence of our epistemic situation.

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265

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501746219

ISBN 13

9781501746215

Barth and Rationality

Critical Realism in Theology

By: D. Paul La Montagne

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Barth and Rationality

Critical Realism in Theology

By: D. Paul La Montagne

This work brings the critically realistic interpretation of Barth's dialectical theology into conversation with the modern dialogue between science and theology. Philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics and logic, and considerations of the problem of rationality raised in the science and theology dialogue are brought to bear upon Barth's theology in an attempt to explicate the rationality of his dialectical method. Its deep and abiding radical nature and character are lifted up, emphasized, and explored. The results of this study are then used to answer some long-standing criticisms of Barth. What emerges are an understanding of how Barth uses philosophy and why he declines to do philosophy. La Montagne opens the way for Barth scholars to enter into the dialogue between theology and science.

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234

Publisher

Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1621893693

ISBN 13

9781621893691

A Neurocomputational Perspective

The Nature of Mind and the Structure of Science

By: Paul M. Churchland

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A Neurocomputational Perspective

The Nature of Mind and the Structure of Science

By: Paul M. Churchland

A Bradford book."Includes index. Bibliography: p. [305]-313.

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348

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MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262531062

ISBN 13

9780262531061

How Does Social Science Work?

Reflections on Practice

By: Paul Diesing

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How Does Social Science Work?

Reflections on Practice

By: Paul Diesing

The culmination of a lifetime spent in a variety of fields - sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, and philosophy of science - How Does Social Science Work? takes an innovative, sometimes iconoclastic look at social scientists at work in many disciplines. It describes how they investigate and the kinds of truth they produce, illuminating the weaknesses and dangers inherent in their research.At once an analysis, a critique, and a synthesis, this major study begins by surveying philosophical approaches to hermeneutics, to examine the question of how social science ought to work. It illustrates many of its arguments with untraditional examples, such as the reception of the work of the political biographer Robert Caro to show the hermeneutical problems of ethnographers. The major part of the book surveys sociological, political, and psychological studies of social science to get a rounded picture of how social science works,Paul Diesling warns that "social science exists between two opposite kinds of degeneration, a value-free professionalism that lives only for publications that show off the latest techniques, and a deep social concern that uses science for propaganda." He argues for greater self-awareness and humility among social scientists, although he notes that "some social scientists . . . will angrily reject the thought that their personality affects their research in any way."This profound and sometimes witty book will appeal to students and practitioners in the social sciences who are ready to take a fresh look at their field. An extensive bibliography provides a wealth of references across an array of social science disciplines.

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430

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University of Pittsburgh Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0822971534

ISBN 13

9780822971535

The Theory of Architecture

Concepts Themes & Practices

By: Paul-Alan Johnson

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The Theory of Architecture

Concepts Themes & Practices

By: Paul-Alan Johnson

The Theory of Architecture Concepts, Themes & Practices Paul-Alan Johnson Although it has long been thought that theory directs architectural practice, no one has explained precisely how the connection between theory and practice is supposed to work. This guide asserts that architectural theory does not direct practice, but is itself a form of reflective practice. Paul-Alan Johnson cuts through the jargon and mystery of architectural theory to clarify how it relates to actual applications in the field. He also reveals the connections between new and old ideas to enhance the reader's powers of critical evaluation. Nearly 100 major concepts, themes, and practices of architecture--as well as the rhetoric of architects and designers--are presented in an easily accessible format. Throughout, Johnson attempts to reduce each architectural notion into its essential concept. By doing so, he makes theory accessible for everyday professional discussion. Topics are arranged under ten headings: identification, definition, power, attitudes, ethics, order, authority, governance, relationship, and expression. Areas covered under these headings include: * Utopic thought in theories of architecture * Advocacy and citizen participation in architecture * The basis of architectural quality and excellence * The roles of the architect as artist, poet, scientist, and technologist * Ethical obligations of architecture * Rationales for models and methods of design * How authority is determined in architecture * How architects structure their concepts * Conventions of communication within the architectural profession Each section begins by showing the etymology of key terms of the topic discussed, along with a summary history of the topic's use in architecture. Discussions probe the conceptual and philosophical difficulties of different theories, as well as their potential and limitations in past and present usage. Among the provocative issues discussed in terms of their relationship to architecture are chaos theory, feminism, service to the community, and the use of metaphor. Johnson points out with stunning clarity the intentions as well as the contradictions and inconsistencies of all notions and concepts. All architects and designers, as well as students and teachers in these disciplines, will gain many insights about architectural thought in this groundbreaking text.

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516

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0471285331

ISBN 13

9780471285335

The Transcendental Temptation

A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal

By: Paul Kurtz

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The Transcendental Temptation

A Critique of Religion and the Paranormal

By: Paul Kurtz

In this landmark work, Paul Kurtz examines the reasons why people accept supernatural and paranormal belief systems in spite of substantial evidence to the contrary. According to Kurtz, it is because there is within the human species a deeply rooted tendency toward magical thinking—the “transcendental temptation”—which undermines critical judgment and paves the way for willful beliefs. Kurtz explores in detail the three major monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—finding striking psychological and sociological parallels between these religions, the spiritualism of the nineteenth century, and the paranormal belief systems of today. This acclaimed and controversial book includes sections on mysticism, belief in the afterlife, the existence of God, reincarnation, astrology, and ufology. Kurtz concludes by explaining and advocating rational skepticism as an antidote to belief in the transcendental.

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606

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Prometheus Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1616148284

ISBN 13

9781616148287

Hunters and Bureaucrats

Power, Knowledge, and Aboriginal-state Relations in the Southwest Yukon

By: Paul Nadasdy

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Hunters and Bureaucrats

Power, Knowledge, and Aboriginal-state Relations in the Southwest Yukon

By: Paul Nadasdy

Winner of the Julian Steward Award Based on three years of ethnographic research in the Yukon, this book examines contemporary efforts to restructure the relationship between aboriginal peoples and the state in Canada. Although it is widely held that land claims and co-management--two of the most visible and celebrated elements of this restructuring--will help reverse centuries of inequity, this book challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing that land claims and co-management may be less empowering for First Nation peoples than is often supposed. The book examines the complex relationship between the people of Kluane First Nation, the land and animals, and the state. It shows that Kluane human-animal relations are at least partially incompatible with Euro-Canadian notions of "property" and "knowledge." Yet, these concepts form the conceptual basis for land claims and co-management, respectively. As a result, these processes necessarily end up taking for granted--and so helping to reproduce--existing power relations. First Nation peoples' participation in land claim negotiations and co-management have forced them--at least in some contexts--to adopt Euro-Canadian perspectives toward the land and animals. They have been forced to develop bureaucratic infrastructures for interfacing with the state, and they have had to become bureaucrats themselves, learning to speak and act in uncharacteristic ways. Thus, land claims and co-management have helped undermine the very way of life they are supposed to be protecting. This book speaks to critical issues in contemporary anthropology, First Nations law, and resource management. It moves beyond conventional models of colonialism, in which the state is treated as a monolithic entity, and instead explores how "state power" is reproduced through everyday bureaucratic practices--including struggles over the production and use of knowledge. The book will be of interest to anthropologists and others studying the nature of aboriginal-state relations in Canada and elsewhere, as well as those interested in developing an "ethnography of the state.

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332

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UBC Press

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ISBN 10

0774809841

ISBN 13

9780774809849

A History of Anthropological Theory, Fifth Edition

By: Paul A. Erickson,Liam D. Murphy

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A History of Anthropological Theory, Fifth Edition

By: Paul A. Erickson,Liam D. Murphy

An accessible and engaging overview of anthropological theory that provides a comprehensive history from antiquity through to the twenty-first century. The fifth edition has been revised throughout, with substantial updates to the Feminism and Anthropology section, including more on Gender and Sexuality, and with a new section on Anthropologies of the Digital Age. Once again, A History of Anthropological Theory will be published simultaneously with the accompanying reader, mirroring these changes in the selection of readings, so they can easily be used together in the classroom. Additional biographical information about some of theorists has been added to help students."--

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321

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University of Toronto Press

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ISBN 10

1442636831

ISBN 13

9781442636835

Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions

Thomas S. Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

By: Paul Hoyningen-Huene

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Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions

Thomas S. Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

By: Paul Hoyningen-Huene

Scholars from disciplines as diverse as political science and art history have offered widely differing interpretations of Kuhn's ideas, appropriating his notions of paradigm shifts and revolutions to fit their own theories, however imperfectly. Destined to become the authoritative philosophical study of Kuhn's work. Bibliography.

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330

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University of Chicago Press

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0226355519

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9780226355511

Objectivity, Science and Society

Interpreting nature and society in the age of the crisis of science

By: Paul A Komesaroff

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Objectivity, Science and Society

Interpreting nature and society in the age of the crisis of science

By: Paul A Komesaroff

Originally published in 1986. This work remains of compelling interest to those concerned with the natural sciences and their social problems. It puts forward original and unorthodox ideas about the philosophy of and sociology of science, starting from the conviction that modern societies face deep problems arising from unresolved dilemmas about the meaning, content and technical applications of the theories of nature they employ. The book draws on insights developed within a variety of traditions to explore these problems, especially the work of Edmund Husserl and modern critical theory.

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442

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Routledge

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1135028419

ISBN 13

9781135028411

Rationality, Hermeneutics and Dialogue

Toward a Viable Postfoundationalist Account of Rationality

By: Paul Healy

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Rationality, Hermeneutics and Dialogue

Toward a Viable Postfoundationalist Account of Rationality

By: Paul Healy

What is rationality and how are we to conceive of it today given the major theoretical changes that have profoundly altered our philosophical self-understanding? Rationality, Hermeneutics and Dialogue develops a systematic response to these questions, defending an approach to rationality that can meet the demands of a postfoundationalist and pluralistic era. Engaging critically with the work of Habermas, Gadamer and Foucault, Healy makes the case for a dialogical approach to rationality as a fitting response to postfoundationalist needs. As well as advancing existing scholarship on these theorists, Rationality, Hermeneutics and Dialogue contributes to filling a significant lacuna in the literature on rationality, as prefigured by Richard Bernstein and others. By showing how the dialogical approach can resolve two challenging contemporary problems for rationality, it demonstrates how critical engagement with the Continental tradition can facilitate the resolution of aporias arising within the Analytic tradition. It thereby sets the scene for a productive and potentially provocative debate about rationality in the twenty-first century.

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246

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Routledge

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1351150782

ISBN 13

9781351150781

Exuberant Skepticism

By: Paul Kurtz

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Exuberant Skepticism

By: Paul Kurtz

For more than three decades, philosopher Paul Kurtz has been a strong advocate of skepticism, not only as a philosophical position, but also as a fulfilling way of life. Contrary to the view that skepticism is merely a negative, nay saying, or debunking stance toward commonly held beliefs, skepticism as defined by Kurtz emerges reborn as "skeptical inquiry"—a decidedly positive philosophy ready and able to change the world. In this definitive collection, editor John R. Shook has gathered together seventeen of Paul Kurtz’s most penetrating and insightful writings. Altogether these essays build an affirmative case for what can be known based on sound common sense, reason, and scientific method. And as each essay cogently and convincingly explains, so much can be known, from the natural world around us to the moral responsibilities among us. The work is organized in four topical sections. In the first, "Reasons to Be Skeptical," Kurtz presents compelling reasons why the methods of inquiry used by the sciences deserve respect. In short, science provides reliable knowledge, without which humanity would never have emerged from the age of myth and widespread ignorance. In the second section, "Skepticism and the Non-Natural," Kurtz shows how skeptical inquiry can be fruitfully used to critique both paranormal claims and religious worldviews. He also investigates whether science and religion can be compatible. In the third section, "Skepticism in the Human World," he considers how skeptical inquiry can be applied to politics, ethics, and pursuit of the good life. Realizing the essential connections between scientific knowledge, technological power, and social progress, Kurtz has understood, as few philosophers ever have, how the methods of intelligence can be applied to all areas of human endeavor. The book concludes with Kurtz’s authoritative reflections on the skeptical movement that he founded and has led. As he explains, the forces of blind faith and stubborn unreason still fight for control of the mind, so the skeptic can never rest. If there is a brighter future for humanity, a future in which every person enjoys a realistic opportunity for the pursuit of excellence, Kurtz’s ‘exuberant skepticism’ can show us the way.

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230

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Prometheus Books

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ISBN 10

1615929703

ISBN 13

9781615929702

God and the Creative Imagination

Metaphor, Symbol and Myth in Religion and Theology

By: Paul Avis

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God and the Creative Imagination

Metaphor, Symbol and Myth in Religion and Theology

By: Paul Avis

A mere metaphor', 'only symbolic', 'just a myth' - these tell tale phrases reveal how figurative language has been cheapened and devalued in our modern and postmodern culture. In God and the Creative Imagination, Paul Avis argues the contrary: we see that actually, metaphor, symbol and myth, are the key to a real knowledge of God and the sacred. Avis examines what he calls an alternative tradition, stemming from the Romantic poets Blake, Wordsworth and Keats and drawing on the thought of Cleridge and Newman, and experience in both modern philosophy and science. God and the Creative Imagination intriguingly draws on a number of non-theological disciplines, from literature to philosophy of science, to show us that God is appropriately likened to an artist or poet and that the greatest truths are expressed in an imaginative form. Anyone wishing to further their understanding of God, belief and the imagination will find this an inspiring work.

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197

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1134609388

ISBN 13

9781134609383

Book's by Paul Feyerabend

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