For and Against Method: Including Lakatos's Lectures on Scientific Method and the Lakatos-Feyerabend Correspondence

by Imre Lakatos, Paul Karl Feyerabend, Matteo Motterlini (Editor)

The work that helped to determine Paul Feyerabend's fame and notoriety, Against Method, stemmed from Imre Lakatos's "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reply, For and Against Method reconstructs his original counter-arguments from lectures and correspondence previously unpublished in English, allowing us to enjoy the "fun" two of this century's most eminent philosophers had, matching their wits and ideas on the subject of the scientific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.

For and Against Method 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.

The delight Lakatos and Feyerabend took in philosophical debate, and the relish with which they sparred, come to life again in For and Against Method, making it essential and lively reading for anyone interested in these two fascinating and controversial thinkers and their immense contributions to philosophy of science.

"The writings in this volume are of considerable intellectual importance, and will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the development of the philosophical views of Lakatos and Feyerabend, or indeed with the development of philosophy of science in general during this crucial period."—Donald Gillies, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (on the Italian edition)

"A stimulating exchange of letters between two philosophical entertainers."—Tariq Ali, The Independent

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 The Autobiography of Paul Feyerabend , the last published by the University of Chicago Press.

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Nonfiction, Mathematics, History Of Science

463 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Philosopher of mathematics and science, known for his thesis of the fallibility of mathematics and its 'methodology of proofs and refutations' in its pre-axiomatic stages of development, and also for introducing the concept of the 'research programme' in his methodology of scientific research programmes.
More at Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Conrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend, their father figure Karl Popper, and their adjunct Thomas Kuhn - it's hard not to think of these four philosophers as being of a piece, even (especially?) when they disagree, because their disagreements were usually so exceedingly affectionate. So reading the correspondence between Lakatos and Feyerabend is peeking into the workaday lives of a cadre of philosophers. They talk about womanizing, Berkeley politics, travel, conferences, etc. They also talk about their philosophical concerns (mostly the effectiveness of science as a predictive tool, its simliarities/dissimilarities with other ways of knowing, its cultural uniqueness in the West) in these sometimes unprompted, unrehearsed and underdigested letters.

The upside is you can read Lakatos's masterpiece Proofs and Refutations all day and never quite understand what's behind the text, but here, he just lays it all out. You also get a portrait of the firebrand Feyerabend as a middle-aged wonk that is pretty contrary to all the molotov cocktail-throwing in his published writings.

The downside is that a lot of this correspondence is really boring.

For people who are interested in Popper and his philosophical progeny, this may be valuable. For others, these are not the droids you're looking for.

[Joshua Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this book is somewhat confused in terms of subject matter. It is presented as an account of the philosophy of science of Feyerabend and Lakatos, and (in the early sections) that is exactly what it delivers, with good scholarly analysis and interesting papers by both.

But when it gets into the correspondence, it really becomes quite a different book, simultaneously about politics and personal lives, academic and financial struggles. The correspondence is enormously interesting, but serves to cast very little light on the philosophy of science proper.

All in all, For and Against Method is two excellent short books. I strongly recommend the first half to those interested in the historical era's philosophy of science and the latter to those interested in the history of modern philosophy.

Compositionally, the book is necessarily herky-jerky. But the two independent sections, if treated as such, are very good, and very thoughtfully annotated. It is definitely a rewarding read.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

<< The only theoretical restriction (or "definition") of science which I am prepared to tolerate is what follows from a principle of general hedonism: all those elements of science which are inconsistent with hedonism must go (which, of course, does not mean that people will be forbidden to be masochistic; only that they should exercise their masochism privately and not advertise it as a principle of truth, or of professional integrity, thus misleading themselves and everyone else; they can even be sadists; but again they should choose their friends not by misleading propaganda -- "you are now going to do the most important thing that man has invented," but honestly (not in the "professional" sense): "I am a sadist; you are a masochist; so let us have some fun together"). >>

Unfortunately, even a shining light such as Lakatos rather fatally misunderstands probabilism.

[Alvaro de Menard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly pointless. The main arguments presented in this book have been expressed better elsewhere. Most of the book consists of Lakatos' and Feyerabend's correspondence, but aside from a few funny items those letters hold little interest.

[Noir · Rating 5 out of 5]

The historical approach to philosophy of science is well covered in the lectures and papers written by Lakatos and Feyerabend. The latter half of this book is separate to this--a personal correspondence between two men that unearths a witty and fun relationship.

I thoroughly enjoyed the latter as that was my main drive for uncovering this book originally. A rewarding and enjoyable read.

[Pent · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is really only one idea worth discussing here, the idea that modern science doesn't have or need a strict method to get to insightful conclusions about reality. This book in particular is about 99% filler, detailing the discussion between Feyerabend and Lakatos, read a summary instead.

[calamo currente · Rating 5 out of 5]

una lectura de lo más entretenida... muy de acuerdo con Lakatos en eso de que el éxito y la permanencia de la filosofía de Popper sea un misterio sociológico, aunque me temo que lo mismo puede decirse de la suya propia. "The Open Society by One of Its Enemies."

[Giorgio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quase dei 3 estrelas, mas os pensadores valem mais do que o formato deste livro.

[Michael Tranchina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would love to write a more thorough review. This book illustrates the unconventional radical thinker Feyerabend, and his impact on the equally great thinker Lakatos, who refined the ideas of Kuhn and added to our understanding of the Philosophy of Science.

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not realized that F's Against Method was originally supposed to be co-written with Lakatos--or that Lakatos had had such a backstory of his own, which you can read here https://www.lrb.co.uk/v22/n02/ian-hac...

Fererabend was a celebrity when I was in the Philosophy department at Cal and I have long loved his book Against Method. He remained a kind of Socrates Gadfly throughout.

I hate to age myself but I do feel nostalgic about the old days when people exchanged letters. The letters of these two close friends were utterly charming, reminding me something of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West. Great stuff.

[Nelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the Lakatos lectures and they were definitely interesting!

[pedro gabriel b. · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book!