Epistemological anarchism

Epistemological anarchism is Paul Feyerabend’s view that no universal method governs scientific progress and that methodological pluralism can benefit inquiry.

Methodological pluralism: The use of multiple methods and theoretical perspectives to investigate a subject. It captures Feyerabend’s alternative to a single rulebook for science.
Paul Feyerabend: An Austrian-born philosopher of science known for challenging universal accounts of scientific method. He developed and defended epistemological anarchism.
Falsificationism: The view that scientific theories should be testable by evidence that could show them false. It offers a methodological rule Feyerabend argues cannot govern scientific practice universally.
Galileo affair: The seventeenth-century conflict between Galileo Galilei and Roman Catholic authorities over heliocentrism. Feyerabend used Galileo’s case to show how scientific advances can violate accepted standards.
Anything goes: A phrase Feyerabend used to summarize the limits of universal methodological rules. It is his provocative shorthand, not a practical instruction to accept every claim.
Against Method: Feyerabend’s book arguing that scientific history resists universal methodological rules. It is the best-known sustained statement of the view.
Research programme: A sequence of theories guided by a shared core and evaluated through its developing predictions. Lakatos’s framework seeks standards for judging science without a single decisive test.
Scientific education: The teaching and learning of scientific knowledge, practices, and forms of reasoning. Feyerabend argued that teaching science as a single rational method distorts its history.
Theory-ladenness: The dependence of observation and interpretation on background theories and assumptions. It helps explain why supposedly neutral observations cannot always settle disputes between theories.
Karl Popper: A philosopher who proposed falsifiability as a criterion for distinguishing science from non-science. Feyerabend studied with Popper before rejecting fixed methodological prescriptions.

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