"Now - how can we possibly examine something we use all the time and presuppose in every statement? How can we criticize the terms in which we habitually express our observations? Let us see! The first step in our criticism of commonly-used concepts is to create a measure of criticism, something with which these concepts can be compared. Of course, we shall later want to know a little more about the measuring stick itself; for example, we shall want to know whether it is better than, or perhaps not as good as, the material examined. But in order for this examination to start there must be a measuring-stick in the first place. Therefore, the first step in our criticism of customary concepts and customary reactions is to step outside the circle and either to invent a new conceptual system, for example a new theory, that clashes with the most carefully established observational results and confounds with the most plausible theoretical principles, or to import such a system from outside science, from religion, from mythology , from the ideas of incompetents, or the ramblings of madmen. This step is, again, counter-inductive, Counter-induction is thus both a fact' - science could not exist without it - and a legitimate and much needed move in the game of science."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Philosophers from AustriaAcademics from AustriaPeople from ViennaSociologists from AustriaUniversity of California, Berkeley faculty
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Pg 68.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Karl_Feyerabend
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Paul Karl Feyerabend
Paul Feyerabend (January 13, 1924 – February 11, 1994) was a philosopher of science, professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, who became famous for his purportedly anarchistic view of science, his bitingly critical prose on the prevailing scientific philosophies, and his rejection of the existence of universal methodological rules.
82 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Paul Karl Feyerabend →
Related Quotes
"Not only are facts and theories in constant disharmony, they are never as neatly separated as everyone makes them out…"
"Taking experimental results and observations for granted and putting the burden of proof on the theory means taking t…"
"No single theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain"
"[Responding to criticism from Dr. Hesse] Voodoo, Dr Hesse's piece de risistance', is case in point. Nobody knows it, …"
"Facts are constituted by older ideologies, and a clash between facts and theories may be proof of progress."
"The material which a scientist actually has at his disposal, his laws, his experimental results, his mathematical tec…"
"The validity of usefulness, adequacy of popular standards can be tested only by research that violates them."
"[continued conjecture on empiricism] At this point an "empirical" theory of the kind described becomes almost indisti…"
"Progress was often achieved by a "criticism from the past"… After Aristotle and Ptolemy, the idea that the earth move…"
"The separation of state and church must be complemented by the separation of state and science, that most recent, mos…"