From: "Avner Cohen" <cohenavner-AT-email.msn.com>
Subject: PKF: Re: Conquest of Abundance
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 10:51:10 -0500


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.


The point about postmodernism is an interesting one.  I recall that in the early-mid 1980s, when the phrase "postmodernism" was still fresh and hardly used, I made the point (to Dick Rorty among others) that PKF's "postmodernist" outlook is derived from the same outlook that we found among the classical Greek skeptics, the Phyrronian skeptics (e.g., Sextus Empiricus, not the Academic skeptics) as well from later Skeptics such as Montaigne.  This skepticism carries a lot of resemblance, in motivation and outlook, with current postmodernism.  To the best of my knowledge, PKF has never said much about classical skepticism--am I right on this.  John Preston, could you kindly send a copy of your article as an email attachment?  I wonder what the other three 'post-modern' views you refer to are...

Yes, I also just got my hand on The Conquest of Abundance a couple of days ago and just starting reading it.  Thank you Bert for this important labor of love.  I wish Chicago Press would have allowed a few pictures of the original ms. 

Finally, a query to all: does anybody knows of video footage of PKF, in conversation or a public talk?  What about some interviews in German or Swiss TV?  Is there anything available publicly?  Are these pieces or copies of them also in the Archive in Konstanz?  I, for one, would be very interested to get my hand on such footage.  Any ideas how?  Avner

Avner Cohen

Senior Fellow
National Security Archive
Washington DC

and
Senior Research Scholar
Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM)
University of Maryland

Tel: 301-578-1906
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  ----- Original Message -----
  From: John Preston
  To: feyerabend-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
  Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 4:40 AM
  Subject: PKF: Conquest of Abundance


  There's an article about this, Science as Supermarket: Post-Modern Themes in Paul Feyerabends Later Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, volume 29, no.3, 1998, pp.425-447. It's by me, I'm afraid. It's also about to appear in the very-shortly-forthcoming volume J.Preston, G.Munévar & D.Lamb (eds.), The Worst Enemy of Science?: Essays in Memory of Paul Feyerabend, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). (ISBN 0-19-512874-5), about which I'll post more info on this list once it appears.
      The article argues that Feyerabend's last work (exactly the stuff that has just appeared in The Conquest of Abundance) is indeed post-modern in some of the respects David specifies below, and others too. Without summarising the whole thing here, here's the first paragraph, which should convey its flavour:
  "Philosophy of science is perhaps the area of philosophy in which post-modernism has had the least penetration, and has been least discussed. My intention here is to clarify both Feyerabends last work and the nature of the post-modern by situating that work relative to three different positions in the philosophy of science which have been called post-modern. However, I am less concerned to clinch the case for Feyerabends having become a postmodernist, than to use that position as foil against which accurately to convey and critically evaluate the central themes in his later philosophy."

  All the best,

  John Preston
  Senior Lecturer,
  Department of Philosophy,
  The University of Reading,
  Reading RG6 6AA,
  England.

  Department Tel. 0118-931-8325 International Tel. +44-118-931-8325
  Department Fax. 0118-931-8295 International Fax. +44-118-931-8295

  Homepage: http://www.reading.ac.uk/AcaDepts/ld/Philos/jmp.htm
   

  David Geelan wrote:

    I've just received a copy of Conquest of Abundance, PKF's new book. Bert
    Terpstra has done a wonderful job of editing together the unfinished 
    manuscript and other archival materials to make a fascinating, coherent
    book that preserves Paul's tone and approach beautifully. I'm enjoying
    the book very much, and it's resonating very strongly with the issues I
    had already been considering. I'll try to raise some questions in the
    list once I finish reading the book, but for now I just want to urge you
    to get hold of it as soon as possible.
    I know I promised a review of 'For and Against Method', and I do still
    plan to do that too. One intriguing facet of that book is the insight
    into PKF's writing style - the continuing revisions and rewrites and 
    dissatisfactions and illuminations. It becomes clearer why the three 
    editions of AM are so different!

    It's great to see the list coming to life again a little (welcome
    Tomas!), and I hope this can be continued. One question that occurs to
    me:

    In 'Conquest of Abundance', Paul does not (so far as I can see anyway)
    use the term 'postmodernism' in relation to his point, but I have been
    coming to many of the same issues - the richness, complexity and
    fragmentariness of Being and experience, as against the relative aridity
    of our theoretical schemes for trying to describe it - from a postmodern
    (though not deconstructionist) perspective. Is PKF's perspective
    postmodern, or does it really not fit on that axis (modern-postmodern)?

    Warm regards,

    David
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----- Original Message -----

From: John Preston

To: feyerabend-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu

Sent: Friday, February 11, 2000 4:40 AM

Subject: PKF: Conquest of Abundance

There's an article about this, Science as Supermarket: Post-Modern Themes in Paul Feyerabends Later Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, volume 29, no.3, 1998, pp.425-447. It's by me, I'm afraid. It's also about to appear in the very-shortly-forthcoming volume J.Preston, G.Munévar & D.Lamb (eds.), The Worst Enemy of Science?: Essays in Memory of Paul Feyerabend, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). (ISBN 0-19-512874-5), about which I'll post more info on this list once it appears.
    The article argues that Feyerabend's last work (exactly the stuff that has just appeared in The Conquest of Abundance) is indeed post-modern in some of the respects David specifies below, and others too. Without summarising the whole thing here, here's the first paragraph, which should convey its flavour:

"Philosophy of science is perhaps the area of philosophy in which post-modernism has had the least penetration, and has been least discussed. My intention here is to clarify both Feyerabends last work and the nature of the post-modern by situating that work relative to three different positions in the philosophy of science which have been called post-modern. However, I am less concerned to clinch the case for Feyerabends having become a postmodernist, than to use that position as foil against which accurately to convey and critically evaluate the central themes in his later philosophy."

All the best,

John Preston
Senior Lecturer,
Department of Philosophy,
The University of Reading,
Reading RG6 6AA,
England.

Department Tel. 0118-931-8325 International Tel. +44-118-931-8325
Department Fax. 0118-931-8295 International Fax. +44-118-931-8295

Homepage: http://www.reading.ac.uk/AcaDepts/ld/Philos/jmp.htm
 

David Geelan wrote:

I've just received a copy of Conquest of Abundance, PKF's new book. Bert
Terpstra has done a wonderful job of editing together the unfinished
manuscript and other archival materials to make a fascinating, coherent
book that preserves Paul's tone and approach beautifully. I'm enjoying
the book very much, and it's resonating very strongly with the issues I
had already been considering. I'll try to raise some questions in the
list once I finish reading the book, but for now I just want to urge you
to get hold of it as soon as possible.

I know I promised a review of 'For and Against Method', and I do still
plan to do that too. One intriguing facet of that book is the insight
into PKF's writing style - the continuing revisions and rewrites and
dissatisfactions and illuminations. It becomes clearer why the three
editions of AM are so different!

It's great to see the list coming to life again a little (welcome
Tomas!), and I hope this can be continued. One question that occurs to
me:

In 'Conquest of Abundance', Paul does not (so far as I can see anyway)
use the term 'postmodernism' in relation to his point, but I have been
coming to many of the same issues - the richness, complexity and
fragmentariness of Being and experience, as against the relative aridity
of our theoretical schemes for trying to describe it - from a postmodern
(though not deconstructionist) perspective. Is PKF's perspective
postmodern, or does it really not fit on that axis (modern-postmodern)?

Warm regards,

David
**********************************************************************
Contributions: mailto:feyerabend-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Commands: mailto:majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Requests: mailto:feyerabend-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu