Paul Feyerabend Quotes

Given any rule, however �fundamental� or �necessary� for science, there are always circumstances when it is advisable not only to ignore the rule, but to adopt its opposite.

The only absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths.

The separation of state and church must be complemented by the separation of state and science, that most recent, most aggressive, and most dogmatic religious institution.

Arguments hardly affect the faithful- their beliefs have an entirely different foundation.

My intention is not to replace one set of general rules by another such set: my intention is, rather, to convince the reader that all methodologies, even the most obvious ones, have their limits.

Traditions are neither good nor bad, they simply are... Rationality is not an arbiter of traditions, it is itself a tradition or an aspect of a tradition.

Teachers' using grades and the fear of failure mould the brains of the young until they have lost every ounce of imagination they might once have possessed.

No single theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain

Early Chinese thinkers had taken variety at face value. They had favored diversification and collected anomalies instead of trying to explain them away.

Rationalism... is a secularized form of the belief in the power of the word of God.

Ultimate Reality, if such an entity can be postulated, is ineffable.

Taking experimental results and observations for granted and putting the burden of proof on the theory means taking the observational ideology for granted without having ever examined it.

I do not see why I should be polite to tyrants, who slobber of humanitarianism and think only of their own petty interests.

Mathematical Reasoning is not only exact; it has its own criteria of reality.

Facts are constituted by older ideologies, and a clash between facts and theories may be proof of progress.

The validity of usefulness, adequacy of popular standards can be tested only by research that violates them.

Rational discourse is only one way of presenting and examining an issue and by no means the best. Our new intellectuals are not aware of its limitations and of the nature of the things outside.

All religions are good 'in principle' - but unfortunately this abstract Good has only rarely prevented their practitioners from behaving like bastards.

Science is an essentially anarchic enterprise.

All religion may be centered around a generally good idea, however, this has not stopped its adherents from acting like bastards.

Experience arises together with theoretical assumptions not before them, and an experience without theory is just as incomprehensible as is (allegedly) a theory without experience.

An anarchist is like an undercover agent who plays the game of Reason in order to undercut the authority of Reason (Truth, Honesty, Justice and so on).

First-world science is one science among many; by claiming to be more it ceases to be an instrument of research and turns into a (political) pressure group.

One knows quite well that harmony can be a harmony of appearances.

In a war a totalitarian state has a free hand.

Copernicanism and other essential ingredients of modern science survived only because reason was frequently overruled in their past.

A Universal Good should reflect the reality of the individual benefits that are collected under its name, not the other way around.

Results from a given approach are "facts" as long as the approach fits the group or the tradition that is being addressed.

Humane science must be adapted to the requirements of a balanced and rewarding life.

Not only are facts and theories in constant disharmony, they are never as neatly separated as everyone makes them out to be.