Paul Feyerabend: A Century of Challenging Orthodoxies

This symposium aims to celebrate Feyerabend’s centennial by exploring how his ideas continue to challenge and inspire contemporary thought across various domains. We invite contributions that reflect Feyerabend’s impact on epistemology, philosophy of science, and philosophical methodology in a broader general sense. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) theoretical pluralism, epistemological anarchism, the role of intellectual traditions in shaping scientific knowledge, and the intersection of science and democracy. We are particularly interested in contributions that demonstrate how Feyerabend’s philosophy can be applied to current issues in science and society, showcasing the relevance of his work in today’s intellectual landscape. The symposium will foreseeably feature a total of 6 talks, each lasting 60 minutes, providing ample time for in-depth discussion of the presented ideas.

Schedule

Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Room: 2.18

9:45–10:00 – Opening Remarks

10:00–11:00 – Ulrich Arnswald (University of Innsbruck / University of Kaiserslautern-Landau / Dnipro National University): Feyerabend Reads Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions. A Closer Look at Feyerabend’s Criticism

11:00–12:00 – Danilo Šuster (University of Maribor): Feyerabend, Astrology, and Open-mindedness

12:00–13:30 – Lunch Break

13:30–14:30 – Jonas Pöld (Hans-Albert-Institut) & Florian Chefai (Hans-Albert-Institut): Do We Live in Feyerabend’s Utopia? Reflections on Autonomy, Trust, and Democracy

14:30–15:30 – Alexander Gabovich & Volodymyr Kuznetsov (Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences) – Virtual Presentation: The Uncertain World of Orthodoxy

15:30–16:00 – Coffee Break

16:00–17:00 – Bojan Borstner (University of Maribor): Reading Parmenides – Between Popper and Feyerabend

17:00–18:00 – Antonino Drago (University “Federico II” of Naples, Italy) – Virtual Presentation: Feyerabend’s Definition of Incommensurability as a Prelude to an Operative and Formal One

Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Room: 2.8

9:00–10:00 – Daniele Molinari (University of Parma): The Normativity of Imagination and the Evolution of Thought Experiments

10:00–11:00 – Juan Esteban de Jager (University of Ljubljana): “To See the Right Things You Need the Right Instruments”: On Feyerabend, Method, and the Ontological Turn in Anthropology

11:00–12:00 – Rita Kimijima-Dennemeyer (KU Leuven): Paul Feyerabend and Mental Health: Foundations for a Democratic Psychiatry

12:00–13:30 – Lunch Break

13:30–14:30 – Deivide Garcia da Silva Oliveira (Federal University of Sergipe, Department of Philosophy) – Virtual Presentation: A Sketch of Feyerabend’s Theory of Experience: Experience Fluidness and Plurality

14:30–15:30 – Andrej Ule (University of Ljubljana): Feyerabendov Epistemološki Anarhizem in Meje Propozicionalnega Gledanja na Znanstveno Spoznanje / Feyerabend’s Epistemological Anarchism and the Limits of the Propositional View of Scientific Knowledge