The only absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths. Paul Feyerabend More Quotes by Paul Feyerabend More Quotes From Paul Feyerabend Science is only ‘one’ of the many instruments people invented to cope with their surroundings. It is not the only one, it is not infallible and it has become too powerful, too pushy and too dangerous to be left on its own. Paul Feyerabend surroundingspowerfulpeople First-world science is one science among many; by claiming to be more it ceases to be an instrument of research and turns into a (political) pressure group. Paul Feyerabend pressure-groupspoliticalresearch The validity of usefulness, adequacy of popular standards can be tested only by research that violates them. Paul Feyerabend adequacystandardsresearch One knows quite well that harmony can be a harmony of appearances. Paul Feyerabend harmonywellsappearance Experience arises together with theoretical assumptions not before them, and an experience without theory is just as incomprehensible as is (allegedly) a theory without experience. Paul Feyerabend assumptionarisetogether All religion may be centered around a generally good idea, however, this has not stopped its adherents from acting like bastards. Paul Feyerabend actingmayideas No theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain, yet it is not always the theory that is to blame. Facts are constituted by older ideologies, and a clash between facts and theories may be proof of progress. It is also a first step in our attempt to find the principles implicit in familiar observational notions. Paul Feyerabend progressprinciplesscience When Western civilization invaded the Near and Far East and what is now called the Third World it imposed its own ideas of a proper environment and a rewarding life. Doing this, it disrupted the delicate patterns of adaptation and created problems that had not existed before. Paul Feyerabend patternscivilizationideas So far Unitarian realism claiming to possess positive knowledge about Ultimate Reality has succeeded only by excluding large areas of phenomena or by declaring, without proof, that they could be reduced to basic theory, which, in this connection, means elementary particle physics. Paul Feyerabend connectionsmeanreality Ultimate Reality, if such an entity can be postulated, is ineffable. Paul Feyerabend entityineffablereality Confronted with such a variety most philosophers try to establish one approach to the exclusion of all others. As far as they are concerned there can only be one true way- and they want to find it. Thus normative philosophers argue that knowledge is a result of the application of certain rules, they propose rules which in their opinion constitute knowledge and reject what clashes with them. Paul Feyerabend exclusiontryingway Language became a colorless and as indistinct as the business suit which is now worm by everyone, by the scholar, by the businessman, by the professional killer. Being accustomed to a dry and dreary norm and sees in it an obvious sign of arrogance and aggression; viewing authority with almost religious awe he gets into a frenzy when he sees someone pluck the beard of his favorite prophet. Paul Feyerabend dryarrogancereligious Unanimity of opinion may be fitting for a church, for the frightened or greedy victims of some (ancient, or modern) myth, or for the weak and willing followers of some tyrant. Variety of opinion is necessary for objective knowledge. And a method that encourages variety is also the only method that is comparable with a humanitarian outlook. Paul Feyerabend tyrantsscienceknowledge Results from a given approach are "facts" as long as the approach fits the group or the tradition that is being addressed. Paul Feyerabend groupslongfacts An anarchist is like an undercover agent who plays the game of Reason in order to undercut the authority of Reason (Truth, Honesty, Justice and so on). Paul Feyerabend honestygamesorder Human paint, produce films and videos; they dance, dream and make music; they engage in political action, exchange goods, perform rituals, build houses start wars, act in plays, try to please patrons- and so on... They contain patterns, press the practitioners to "conform" and in this way mold their thought, their perception, their actions, and their discriminative abilities. Paul Feyerabend dreamplaywar In a war a totalitarian state has a free hand. Paul Feyerabend stateswarhands Science is not sacrosanct. The mere fact that it exists, is admired, has results is not sufficient for making it a measure of excellence. Modern science arose from global objections against earlier views and rationalism itself, the idea that there are general rules and standards for conducting our affairs, affairs of knowledge included, arose from global objections to common sense. Paul Feyerabend common-senseviewsideas The material which a scientist actually has at his disposal, his laws, his experimental results, his mathematical techniques, his epistemological prejudices, his attitude towards the absurd consequences of the theories which he accepts, is indeterminate in many ways, ambiguous, and never fully separated from the historical background . This material is always contaminated by principles which he does not know and which, if known, would be extremely hard to test. Paul Feyerabend historicallawattitude Events and developments, such as ... the Copernican Revolution, ... occurred only because some thinkers either decided not to be bound by certain "obvious" methodological rules, or because they unwittingly broke them. Paul Feyerabend revolutioneventsscience
