The Philosophy of Nature

Paul Feyerabend, philosopher, physicist, anarchist, was one of the most unconventional scientists of his time. His »Anything Goes« has become a label. What few people know is that for many years Feyerabend worked on a philosophy of nature structured as a three-volume publication.

»Naturphilosophie« was intended to encompass the period from the earliest traces of Stone Age cave paintings until 20th century nuclear physics – a project, which as he admits in a letter to Imre Lakatos, almost drove him crazy: »Damn the philosophy of nature.«
For a long time the manuscript to the book was considered missing. By chance a typoscript turned up in Constance University archives, which encompasses the publication’s first volume. Feyerabend examines the meaning of myths for the early days of the philosophy of nature and the transition from Homer’s »Aggregatuniversum« to Parmenides’ unity concept. The focus of his considerations is what he sees as the devastating rise of rationalism during Greek antiquity and the resultant separation of man from nature. In customary polemic and extremely well-read manner Feyerabend taps into the prehistory of modern science.
The publication contains numerous illustrations (some of archaic art items) and sketches Feyerabend made himself. Then there are several biographical documents unpublished to date, which complete the overall picture of the philosopher. An introduction by the editor explains what role the philosophy of nature played in Feyerabend’s thinking.

»It is fortunate indeed that this text was discovered in the Feyerabend Archive in Konstanz, and its importance recognized. [...] The book offers a concise and clearly written odyssey through European thinking in regard to nature, from the mythical cosmology of the Stone Age over Homer up to the present day. [...] Paul Feyerabend’s posthumously published text may even encourage people to search for a new understanding of nature and appropriate ways of living.« Neue Zürcher Zeitung

»A book that reminds us of the poetical components inherently to science.« Tagesspiegel

»Natural philosophy reveals a side of Feyerabend about which little was previously known: the historian of natural philosophy and the theorist of the origins of antique philosophy.« die Drei