Feyerabend and the Messy Logic of Discovery

The provided text introduces Boris Kriger’s work, Anything Goes: Feyerabend and How Science Really Works, which explores the chaotic and human reality of discovery. It centers on the philosophy of Paul Feyerabend, who famously argued that there is no single, rigid scientific method and that progress often requires breaking established rules. Through various historical case studies, the source demonstrates that major breakthroughs frequently arise from intuition, accident, and persistence rather than a tidy logical procedure. Kriger characterizes science as a wildly uneven landscape, ranging from highly reliable engineering to speculative or even fraudulent ideologically-driven claims. The book ultimately champions a «sharpened instinct» over blind faith, advocating for a pluralistic approach defined by chaos, vigilance, and humility. It suggests that while the origins of knowledge are lawless, its value is determined by how honestly it survives the discipline of testability.