Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1160274 | Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A | 2016 | 5 Pages |
•Scientific Perspectivism is the view that all scientific claims are made within a conceptual or experimental perspective.•Perspectival Realism is the view that many scientific claims are intended to be genuinely about the world.•Feyerabend himself seems never to have used the term ‘perspectivism’ to designate a philosophical position.•Nevertheless, I argue that Feyerabend is in fact both a scientific perspectivist and a perspectival realist.•My worry, developed in this paper, is that his perspectival realism goes too far.
Although, Feyerabend himself seems never to have used the term ‘perspectivism’ to designate a philosophical position, I think his views about science are very well characterized as perspectival. In fact, his later writings contain much that contributes to current thinking about perspectivism. I would like, therefore, to distinguish my own perspectivism from Feyerabend's. In the end, I will argue, his perspectivism is lacking enough of the critical bite that the younger Feyerabend found so attractive in Popper's philosophy.