The only absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths. Paul Feyerabend More Quotes by Paul Feyerabend More Quotes From Paul Feyerabend Given any rule, however �fundamental� or �necessary� for science, there are always circumstances when it is advisable not only to ignore the rule, but to adopt its opposite. Paul Feyerabend opposites philosophy science The sciences of today are business enterprises run on business principles. Research in large institutes is not guided by Truth and Reason but by the most rewarding fashion, and the great minds of today increasingly turn to where the money is - which means military matters. Paul Feyerabend fashion military running Knowledge is not a series of self-consistent theories that converges toward an ideal view; it is rather an ever increasing ocean of mutually incompatible (and perhaps even incommensurable) alternatives, each single theory, each fairy tale, each myth that is part of the collection forcing the others into greater articulation and all of them contributing, via this process of competition, to the development of our consciousness. Paul Feyerabend ocean self views The only principle that does not inhibit progress is: anything goes. Paul Feyerabend progress principles science The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. Paul Feyerabend learning teaching education There is no "scientific worldview" just as there is no uniform enterprise "science" - except in the minds of metaphysicians, school masters, and scientists blinded by the achievements of their own particular niche... There is no objective principle that could direct us away from the supermarket "religion" or the supermarket "art" toward the more modern, and much more expensive supermarket "science." Besides, the search for such guidance would be in conflict with the idea of individual responsibility which allegedly is an important ingredient of a "rational" or scientific age. Paul Feyerabend responsibility art school The separation of state and church must be complemented by the separation of state and science, that most recent, most aggressive, and most dogmatic religious institution. Paul Feyerabend government church religious Arguments hardly affect the faithful- their beliefs have an entirely different foundation. Paul Feyerabend faithful foundation different My intention is not to replace one set of general rules by another such set: my intention is, rather, to convince the reader that all methodologies, even the most obvious ones, have their limits. Paul Feyerabend methodology intention limits The world we inhabit is abundant beyond our wildest imagination. There are trees, dreams, sunrises; there are thunderstorms, shadows, rivers; there are wars, flea bites, love affairs; there are the lives of people, Gods, entire galaxies. The simplest human action varies from one person and occasion to the next-how else would we recognize our friends only from their gait, posture, voice, and divine their changing moods? Only a tiny fraction of this abundance affects our minds. This is a blessing, not a drawback. Paul Feyerabend blessing dream war Traditions are neither good nor bad, they simply are... Rationality is not an arbiter of traditions, it is itself a tradition or an aspect of a tradition. Paul Feyerabend aspect arbiter tradition No single theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain Paul Feyerabend domain theory facts Teachers' using grades and the fear of failure mould the brains of the young until they have lost every ounce of imagination they might once have possessed. Paul Feyerabend imagination brain teacher Yes, the academic world is screwed up, and there is nothing you can do about it. But don't worry about that. Just do what you want. If you know what you want to do and advocate for it, no one will put any energy into stopping you. Paul Feyerabend stopping energy worry It is clear, then, that the idea of a fixed method, or of a fixed theory of rationality, rests on too naive a view of man and his social surroundings. To those who look at the rich material provided by history, and who are not intent on impoverishing it in order to please their lower instincts, their craving for intellectual security in the form of clarity, precision, "objectivity," "truth," it will become clear that there is only one principle that can be defended under all circumstances and in all stages of human development. It is the principle: anything goes. Paul Feyerabend truth men science Science is essentially an anarchic enterprise: theoretical anarchism is more humanitarian and more likely to encourage progress than its law-and-order alternatives. Paul Feyerabend progress law order Without a constant misuse of language there cannot be any discovery, any progress Paul Feyerabend progress language discovery Rationalism... is a secularized form of the belief in the power of the word of God. Paul Feyerabend word-of-god form belief Taking experimental results and observations for granted and putting the burden of proof on the theory means taking the observational ideology for granted without having ever examined it. Paul Feyerabend burden-of-proof granted mean A free society is a society in which all traditions have equal rights and equal access to the centers of power. A tradition receives these rights not because the importance the cash value, as it were) it has for outsiders but because it gives meaning to the lives of those who participate in it. Paul Feyerabend cash rights giving
