Paul,
There is a book that I read once a while back by Richard Bernstein called
"Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis" that
spoke extensively about those two, and (too) many more besides. It does not
specifically make use of the essay, "The Question Concerning Technology,"
because it didn't dive too far into H's philosophy post "Being and Time,"
but did attempt a confrontation of some views that aren't always housed in
the same book. Unfortunately, the scope of the book, and the number of
authors that it addresses, means that Bernstein wasn't able to attack many
issues with the depth that I thought they needed. However it was a
reasonable preamble to further work on it. I don't think that either
Feyerabend or Heidegger really get a fair shake in this book, but to be
honest, it's been a while and I can't remember the details. I do remember
that the study seemed incomplete, or at least leading.
Both Feyerabend and Heidegger have had a large effect on many issues that I
think about. I wish that Heidegger had the grasp of science that Husserl
had, though, or at least of mathematics. Working in the area of physics, I
often read books written on the philosophy of science that make abundant
use of the social sciences in order to make a point which couldn't work in
physics. Not that physics is that great, but I think that there have only
been a few things written on a fruitful application of the ideas of
phenomenology and hermeneutics to the non-human sciences. It seems to me
that the connection is natural. Feyerabend had a good science background,
but his philosophical angle is quite different from phenomenology, though
he does show certain resonances in books such as "Against Method".
The studies that Feyerabend does in the books "Against Method," "Science In
a Free Society," and "Farewell to Reason" are fun, and get you thinking
about certain overarching effects, but I think that his collected papers in
the two volume set "Realism, Rationalism & Scientific Method" speak the
loudest about the thinking process of Feyerabend when applied to very
specific problems. It also betrays a certain incongruency between his way
of thinking and phenomenology, but it's fun is trying to generate those
connections ourselves. Again, even in Kuhn, I wouldn't look toward "The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions" for the details of his work in the
philosophy of science, but more for the generation of great though perhaps
a bit vague ideas. (To his credit - it sometimes being more fruitful to
further research). The books for Kuhn that I think should really be looked
into are ones like, "Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity,
1894-1912" (with the follow-up article, years later).
My own slant is that ultimately, Heidegger makes much more useable work
toward re-understanding the relationships involved in science and
mathematics, though he was not able to flesh out these ideas himself.
(Oddly enough, I have the same thing to say about the early works of
Derrida.) "The Question Concerning Technology," "The Turning," "The Age of
the World Picture," etc are great starting places for resituating thinking
about the sciences. (Side note: I don't see any reason to have the negative
reactions to science that many people gleem from Heidegger's essays -
especially as H did not share them.)
Don Idhe and Patrick Heelan have made some headway in all this, and both
are very aware of both thinkers. Especially import (I feel) is Heelan's
"Space-Perception and the Philosophy of Science" - an excellent work which
does some great work in an area that few try to work in.
Also, this is a bit of a side note, but a GREAT author who works in this
same area of concern, a great philosopher and scientist, is Gaston
Bachelard. Most of the books that have been translated by him have been
>from the later half of his writing career when he wrote extensively on
aesthetics and poetry. However, he has written a great deal on physics with
a distinctly phenomenological flavor (though he was never officially of
this brand of philosophy) and a great deal of his own originality of which
only the book "The New Scientific Spirit" has been translated. I'm almost
considering learning to speak French just to read all the early work where
he goes into these subjects in depth, as it seems like no one is jumping to
translate the earlier works.
-Jeff
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
There is a book that I read once a while back by Richard Bernstein called
"Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis" that
spoke extensively about those two, and (too) many more besides. It does not
specifically make use of the essay, "The Question Concerning Technology,"
because it didn't dive too far into H's philosophy post "Being and Time,"
but did attempt a confrontation of some views that aren't always housed in
the same book. Unfortunately, the scope of the book, and the number of
authors that it addresses, means that Bernstein wasn't able to attack many
issues with the depth that I thought they needed. However it was a
reasonable preamble to further work on it. I don't think that either
Feyerabend or Heidegger really get a fair shake in this book, but to be
honest, it's been a while and I can't remember the details. I do remember
that the study seemed incomplete, or at least leading.
Both Feyerabend and Heidegger have had a large effect on many issues that I
think about. I wish that Heidegger had the grasp of science that Husserl
had, though, or at least of mathematics. Working in the area of physics, I
often read books written on the philosophy of science that make abundant
use of the social sciences in order to make a point which couldn't work in
physics. Not that physics is that great, but I think that there have only
been a few things written on a fruitful application of the ideas of
phenomenology and hermeneutics to the non-human sciences. It seems to me
that the connection is natural. Feyerabend had a good science background,
but his philosophical angle is quite different from phenomenology, though
he does show certain resonances in books such as "Against Method".
The studies that Feyerabend does in the books "Against Method," "Science In
a Free Society," and "Farewell to Reason" are fun, and get you thinking
about certain overarching effects, but I think that his collected papers in
the two volume set "Realism, Rationalism & Scientific Method" speak the
loudest about the thinking process of Feyerabend when applied to very
specific problems. It also betrays a certain incongruency between his way
of thinking and phenomenology, but it's fun is trying to generate those
connections ourselves. Again, even in Kuhn, I wouldn't look toward "The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions" for the details of his work in the
philosophy of science, but more for the generation of great though perhaps
a bit vague ideas. (To his credit - it sometimes being more fruitful to
further research). The books for Kuhn that I think should really be looked
into are ones like, "Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity,
1894-1912" (with the follow-up article, years later).
My own slant is that ultimately, Heidegger makes much more useable work
toward re-understanding the relationships involved in science and
mathematics, though he was not able to flesh out these ideas himself.
(Oddly enough, I have the same thing to say about the early works of
Derrida.) "The Question Concerning Technology," "The Turning," "The Age of
the World Picture," etc are great starting places for resituating thinking
about the sciences. (Side note: I don't see any reason to have the negative
reactions to science that many people gleem from Heidegger's essays -
especially as H did not share them.)
Don Idhe and Patrick Heelan have made some headway in all this, and both
are very aware of both thinkers. Especially import (I feel) is Heelan's
"Space-Perception and the Philosophy of Science" - an excellent work which
does some great work in an area that few try to work in.
Also, this is a bit of a side note, but a GREAT author who works in this
same area of concern, a great philosopher and scientist, is Gaston
Bachelard. Most of the books that have been translated by him have been
>from the later half of his writing career when he wrote extensively on
aesthetics and poetry. However, he has written a great deal on physics with
a distinctly phenomenological flavor (though he was never officially of
this brand of philosophy) and a great deal of his own originality of which
only the book "The New Scientific Spirit" has been translated. I'm almost
considering learning to speak French just to read all the early work where
he goes into these subjects in depth, as it seems like no one is jumping to
translate the earlier works.
-Jeff
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---