hal-05652567 The Feyerabend Impasse ? On Some Political and Epistemological Criticisms

This article examines critical responses to Against Method, Paul Feyerabend's seminal work. It historicizes and contextualizes interpretations of Feyerabend's self-proclaimed “epistemological anarchism.” We show that, surprisingly, the first critiques of the book did not focus on the anarchist question but rather on the reasoning proposed, which was called into question. Subsequent commentaries on the book, while addressing more of the political dimensions of the anarchism claimed by Feyerabend, nevertheless do so with a certain caution, leading to the overshadowing of the principle of an anarchist perspective in science by refusing to rely on principles such as rationality and objectivity. Paradoxically enough, Feyerabend's approach is thus seen as opposed to the “classical” anarchist point of view, in which skepticism towards authority does not imply a rejection of science. Finally, we report on more recent readings that have made corrections in this regard, offering a “revitalization” of Feyerabend's thought as a counterpoint to the “heritage” it had previously been subjected to.