Tales from the Berkeley Woods: Feyerabend on science in a free society

Paul Feyerabend has, over recent years, strutted the stage of philosophy of science as the enfant terrible of epistemology. In a quarter century of publication and teaching, his principal concern has been with the problem of empiricism in philosophy of science. My aim in this paper is to show that the glitter that is ‘Feyerabendiana’ conceals the dross that is Feyerabend. I propose to tackle the phenomenon of Feyerabend by focusing on his recent book Science in a Free Society. Principally, my comments shall be directed at his social, political and educational ideas.