From Quantum Holism to the Disunity of Science and Social Activism: The Cat-Feyerabend Correspondence

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 37 (4):243-290 (2024)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This essay offers a discussion and contextualisation of a series of letters exchanged between Jordi Cat and Paul Feyerabend from 1989 to 1994. These letters provide insights into Feyerabend’s later thought on a variety of themes including quantum holism, the disunity of science, the development of logical empiricism, and science activism. In doing so, we provide some original analysis and exegesis of Feyerabend’s evolving views on scientific methodology and quantum mechanics by focusing on Feyerabend’s changing attitudes towards Bohm, Bohr, and his eventual colleague Hans Primas and his later sympathies with the algebraic approach. We also highlight Feyerabend’s role in the growth of the Disunity of Science movement and how he connected disunity to practical considerations in the philosophy of action.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,053

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Feyerabend: philosophy, science, and society.John Preston - 1997 - Malden, Mass.: Polity Press.
Interpreting Feyerabend: Critical Essays.Karim Bschir & Jamie Shaw (eds.) - 2021 - New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
The Challenge of Quantum Mechanics to the Rationality of Science: Philosophers of Science on Bohr.Marij van Strien - 2024 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 37 (4):219-241.
Science, Anti-Science, Pseudoscience, Truth.Anthony Morgan (ed.) - forthcoming - Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bigg Books.
Feyerabend's metaphysics: Process-realism, or voluntarist-idealism? [REVIEW]Robert P. Farell - 2001 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 32 (2):351-369.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-11-22

Downloads
4 (#1,852,282)

6 months
4 (#1,242,815)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Jordi Cat
Indiana University, Bloomington
Jamie Shaw
University of Toronto, St. George Campus

Citations of this work

Feyerabend and the Philosophy of Physics, Part II.Michael T. Stuart & Jamie Shaw - 2024 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 37 (4):155-159.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Representing and Intervening.Ian Hacking - 1983 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 35 (4):381-390.
The Disunity of science: boundaries, contexts, and power.Peter Louis Galison & David J. Stump (eds.) - 1996 - Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Wholeness and the Implicate Order.David Bohm - 1981 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 32 (3):303-305.
Natural kinds and biological taxa.John Dupré - 1981 - Philosophical Review 90 (1):66-90.
Natural Kinds and Biological Taxa.John Dupré - 1981 - The Philosophical Review 90 (1):66-90.

View all 58 references / Add more references