Considerations attributed to designation of the “worst enemy of science” for Paul Feyerabend and your implications for science educations

Abstract

Not a few critics of the epistemology of Paul Feyerabend. Many of these criticisms were met with surprise by the author himself, being fruits of misinterpretations of his epistemology by professionals, which he called professionalized incompetence. Among the critics of Feyerabend, some resort to a copy of the prestigious journal Nature in 1987 to provide ballast to his criticisms. In this example, Feyerabend was called the “worst enemy of science”. This paper will seek to examine the arguments which were used to assign such a nickname to Feyerabend, some repercussions and the arguments used by the authors of the journal article Nature match epistemology of Feyerabend or are configured in what he called professionalized incompetence. Some implications of this discussion for the teaching of science are also envisioned.