Feyerabend's ‘The concept of intelligibility in modern physics’ (1948)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 57:57–63 (2016)
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Abstract

This essay introduces the transcription and translation of Paul Feyerabend's "Der Begriff der Verständlichkeit in der modernen Physik" [The concept of intelligibility in modern physics] (1948), which is an early essay written by Paul Feyerabend in 1948 on the topic of intelligibility (Verständlichkeit) and visualizability (Anschaulichkeit) of physical theories. The existence of such essay was likely. It is listed in his bibliography as his first publication. Yet the content of the essay was unknown, as no original or copy is extant in Feyerabend's Nachlass and no known published version was available to the community—until now. The essay has both historical and philosophical interest: it is, as far as our current knowledge goes, Feyerabend's earliest extant publication. It documents Feyerabend's philosophical interest as a physicist-to-be, in what he himself called his “positivist” phase; and it gives a rare if fragmentary insight into the early discussions of the ‘Third Vienna Circle’ and, more generally, the philosophical culture of discussion in Vienna.

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Daniel Kuby
Universität Konstanz

Citations of this work

Feyerabend on the Quantum Theory of Measurement: A Reassessment.Daniel Kuby & Patrick Fraser - 2022 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 35 (1):23-49.
Carnap, Feyerabend, and the Pragmatic Theory of Observation.Daniel Kuby - 2018 - Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 8 (2):432-470.

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References found in this work

Against method: outline of an anarchistic theory of knowledge.Paul Feyerabend - 1974 - Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press.
Quantum theory at the crossroads: reconsidering the 1927 Solvay conference.Guido Bacciagaluppi - 2007 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Antony Valentini.
Quantum Dialogue: The Making of a Revolution.Mara Beller - 1999 - University of Chicago Press.
Science in a Free Society.Paul Feyerabend - 1978 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 169 (4):448-451.

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