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Early Life (1924-1942)
Born in Vienna, Austria. As a child, he was a very accomplished student, enjoying reading, singing, physics and astronomy. Short video overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbDM5Wnvqh0 -
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World War II Involvement (1942-1945)
Feyerabend was drafted into the 'Arbeitsdienst', a faction of the German Army, in 1942. Volunteered for the Pioneer Corps in 1943. He recieved an Iron Cross in 1944 for valor and was shot in early 1945. The wound temporarily paralyzed him. While he did regain use of his lower body, he had nerve damage that would last the rest of his life. -
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Shift to Philosophy (1945-1948)
Post-war, Feyerabend was granted employment as an educator in Germany. He moved back to Vienna in 1947, planning to study theoretical physics. It was at this point that he began to focus in on philosophy. In 1948, he met Karl Popper, who would later become the largest influence in his future work. -
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Move to the US and Early Works (1958-1964)
Began work at the Minnesota Center for the Philosphy of Science, wher ewe would publish many of his early works outlining his views favoring theories formed from experiences instead of theories creating experiences. At this point, his views largely aligned with Poppers "falsificationist conclusions" until 1968, when he left UC Berkley. -
"Against Method" (1975)
"Against Method" served to introduce Feyerabend's own (new) view of the scientific method by attacking multiple existing views. It illustrated his splinter from traditional methodology to what many considered madness- a complete lack of methodology. This book introduced the "epistemological anarchist" approach, easily descibed by the phrase "anything goes". This became the central theme of Feyerabends later works. -
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Later Years
The later years of Feyerabend were spent defending his epistemological anarchism view of the scientific method from its numerous critics (this view was not well recieved by the scientific community at all) and writting his autobiography, that would be published in 1995 after his death.