From: "John McCaffrey" <mrmccaffrey96-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: PKF: Pooper!
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 07:20:39 +0000



>
>What do you find in Feyerabend that cannot be found in the works of his
>teacher, Karl Popper?
>
First of all it's good to see that the list is, indeed, active...I'm glad 
I'm not wasting my time! I'll reply to Doc. Muller soonish (at least until 
I've absorbed your 'heavy duty' replies!)

So....on with the task in hand.
In all honesty I've never (yes, NEVER - shock, horror) even read 
Popper....at least not in any great detail - I seem to remember using a 
couple of quotes in an essay at some point, but as I was a student at the 
time it didn't make much impression on me (hey, the essay had to be done so 
I used the tools available at the time...sometimes you just DO these things 
without taking any of the information 'on board' - you've got to make the 
grade). So, with the foregoing in mind I'm probably going to dig myself into 
a big hole! However...while Popper may well have been Feyerabend's 
'teacher', and I'm sure that he made an impression on him (Popper is 
mentioned probably more than even Galileo in PKF's stuff), it seems 
abundantly clear to me that any 'teaching' that Popper did was viewed (in 
retrospect, no doubt) as 'indoctrination' by PKF. This indoctrination seems 
to have been wholly disowned by Feyerabend in his writings (at least, he 
claimed to have disowned it).
Now, I'm aware that many people believe that regardless of this kind of 
'jumping ship', Feyerabend was, indeed, heavily indebted to his former 
mentor, and this debt is apparent in certain forms of reasoning prevalent in 
his writing...in this, at least, I'm going to have to take these people's 
word at face value (for the reason stated above, that I am unaquainted with 
Popper). However, from my readings of PKF I have gained the impression that 
any such similarity in thought is a result of writing as a 'Professor of 
Philosophy', and writing for a specific audience - namely 'philosophers' 
(Popperians are, I suppose, classed as being amongst this group) . I am 
fairly sure that Feyerabend, whilst clearly enjoying his job (who WOULDN'T 
like being classed as 'the worst enemy of science'? In my book that's 
certainly an honour of sorts), viewed his writing as just that...a 
job....and not necessarily indicative of any deeply held personal 
convictions. Indeed, at various points in his career PKF had argued for 
whatever position he wanted to at the time....in so doing exemplifying 'his' 
philosophy that ANY point of view can be 'rationally' defended, and that 
there exist NO universal standards of 'Reason' by which a system of thought 
can be proved to be either 'True' or 'Right'.
Anyway, in answer to your question (insofar as I CAN answer it) I find in 
Feyerabend's writing a level of wit and humanity which I have not come 
across in any other philosopher's works (I feel convinced that the phrase 
'intellectual fart' has not occurred in any work of philosophy before or 
after Feyerabend... though do feel free to correct me on this assumption)- 
I'm sure that this kind of answer is grist to the mill for all those who 
disregard Feyerabend as a populist, but in all fairness shouldn't this kind 
of thing be encouraged? Too many philosophies are presented in a dry, 
humourless way, and seem intended to alienate readers rather than attracting 
them. Of course for me this dimension of Feyerabend's appeal is FURTHER 
evidence that his 'philosophy' contains grains of truth (whatever THAT may 
be)...after all, are these not 'irrational' means of winning support for 
one's own theory - something that he argued was a feature of the acceptance 
of ALL kinds of theory?
Besides, why would I want to go and read Popper if his thought is so evident 
in Feyerabend's stuff...especially considering the incredible disdain heaped 
upon Popperians throughout all of PKF's writing?
Sorry if I've come across as a bit of an asshole here....I swear that when I 
get round to discussing other e-mails (I'm talking about YOU here Dr. 
Muller) I'll be a bit more serious.
O.K. That's it for now....
John

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