For and Against Method – Including Lakatos′ Lectures on Scientific Method & the Lakatos– Feyerabend Correspondence: Including Lakatos's Lectures on ... and the Lakatos-Feyerabend Correspondence - Hardcover

Lakatos, Imre

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226467740 ISBN 13: 9780226467740

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1999

Synopsis

The work that helped to determine Paul Feyerabend's fame and notoriety, "Against Method," stemmed from Imre Lakatos's challenge: "In 1970 Imre cornered me at a party. "Paul", he said, "you have such strange ideas. Why don't you write them down? I shall write a reply, we publish the whole thing and I promise you - we shall have a lot of fun." Although Lakatos died before he could write his reply, this text reconstructs his original counter-arguments from lectures and correspondence previously unpublished in English, allowing us to enjoy the "fun" two of this century's most eminent philosophers had, matching their wits and ideas on the subject of the scientific method. The text opens with an imaginary dialogue between Lakatos and Feyerabend, which Matteo Motterlini has constructed, based on their published works, to synthesize their positions and arguments. Part one presents the transcripts of the last lectures on method that Lakatos delivered. Part two, Feyerabend's response, consists of a previously published essay on anarchism, which began the attack on Lakatos's position that Feyerabend later continued in "Against Method." The third and longest section consists of the correspondence Lakatos and Feyerabend exchanged on method and many other issues and ideas, as well as the events of their daily lives, between 1968 and Lakatos's death in 1974.

About this title

About the Authors

Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) was professor of logic at the London School of Economics. He was the author of Proofs and Refutations and the two-volume Philosophical Papers. Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994) was educated in Europe and held numerous teaching posts throughout his career. Among his books are Against Method; Science in a Free Society; Farewell to Reason; and Killing Time: The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend, the last published by the University of Chicago Press.

Paul Feyerabend (1924-1994) was educated in Europe and held numerous teaching posts throughout his career. Among his books are Against Method; Science in a Free Society; Farewell to Reason; and Killing Time: The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend, the last published by the University of Chicago Press.

Matteo Motterlini is a lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Trento and visiting assistant professor in social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. He is author of Imre Lakatos: Science, Mathematics, and History.

Paul Feyerabend (1924-94) held numerous teaching posts throughout his career in Europe and the United States. Among his books are Against Method; Science in a Free Society; Farewell to Reason; and Killing Time: The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend, the last published by the University of Chicago Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226467740
• ISBN 13: 9780226467740
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 462