The Philosopher’s Corner: Paul Feyerabend and the Art of Epistemological Anarchy — A Discussion of the Basic Tenets of Against Method and an Assessment of Their Potential Usefulness for the Information Systems Field

Abstract

Paul Feyerabend was presumably one of the most controversial thinkers in scientific epistemology. A self-proclaimed proponent of epistemological anarchism, in his seminal book Against Method he fiercely criticized rationalist thinking, as represented by his friend Imre Lakatos. As a result, he found himself heavily under fire for allegedly propagating ideas related to anarchy, Voodoo, astrology, Dada and even violence. At times he even admitted that he regretted having written his famous book in the first place . He has been labeled the “worst enemy of science” and is generally only briefly mentioned as a marginal note following the discussion of critical rationalism in philosophical textbooks. In this paper I argue that a thorough review of his thoughts and principles might provide interesting insights, discussions and even research guidelines for the Information Systems (IS) community. Initially, I briefly introduce the philosopher Feyerabend and his key ideas together with some criticism. Next, three central propositions are distilled from his work and four experienced IS researchers express their opinions on these statements. Finally, I provide a short summary and some suggestions regarding epistemology and methodology in the IS field.

Keywords: Epistemology, Methodology, Philosophy, Feyerabend, Against Method

JEL Classification: B00