2.14.1 Much of epistemic relativism in philosophy is understood by the scientific community as violent attacks on science. Frequently quoted in discussions about relativism is Paul Feyerabend, who is also analysed by Sokal and Bricmont. Although acknowledging his complex personality, they write, "Nevertheless, Feyerabend's writings contain numerous ambiguous and confused statements, which sometimes end in violent attacks on science: attacks which are simultaneously philosophical, historical and political, and in which judgements of fact are mixed with judgement of value." (pg. 73). Indeed they find his views, in some extreme cases, to have similar problems that they point to with all the other philosophers they critique. His first and most famous book, Against Method (1975), translated into sixteen languages, argued that philosophy cannot provide a methodology and rationale for science since there is no rationale to explain. Particularly inflammatory was his famous "Anything Goes" statement: "All Methodologies have their limitations and the only 'rule' that survives is 'anything goes.' (Feyerabend, 1975, pg. 296). In a footnote, Feyerabend suggests that if we assume that science and art share a problem solving attitude, the only significant difference between them would disappear; therefore, we could speak of "'styles and preferences for the former, and progress for the latter." (1975, pg.197)

2.14.2 What is intriguing about Fereyabend is his embrace of paradox, contradiction, and rhetorical excess. He is yet another complex persona who as a teenager studied opera and astronomy simultaneously and envisioned himself working in both fields. Later he kept going back and forth between majoring in physics and philosophy, eventually settling on the latter. Fereyabend studied under Popper at the London School of Economics where he met Lakatos, who urged him to write Against Method. He then moved to Berkeley, where he befriended Kuhn and strongly rejected science as being superior to other modes of knowledge and as a result was labelled by many as an anti-scientist. [top]