Conquest of Abundance

Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstract versus the Richness of Being is the last book by the Austrian philosopher of science Paul Feyerabend, published posthumously by the University of Chicago Press in 1999. It is edited by Bert Terpstra and includes a forward from Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend, Feyerabend’s 4th and final wife. The book was uncompleted due to Feyerabend’s death in 1994 and was written to fulfill a promise made to Borrini-Feyerabend.[1] The unfinished manuscript was published alongside several other previously published papers that engaged with the core themes of the book.

Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction versus the Richness of Being
AuthorPaul Feyerabend
LanguageEnglish
SubjectsHistory of science
Philosophy of Science
Epistemology
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
Publication date
1999
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages285
ISBN9780226245348
Preceded byKilling Time 
Followed byPhilosophy of Nature 

Translations

Conquest of Abundance has been translated into four languages:[2]

  • Spanish translation by Radamés Molina and César Mora: La conquista de la abundancia: La abstracción frente a la riqueza del ser, Paidós: Barcelona and Buenos Aires 2001, 336 pp.
  • Italian translation by P. Adamo: Conquista dell'abbondanza: Storie dello scontro fra astrazione e ricchezza dell'essere, Raffaello Cortina: Milan 2002, 350 pp.
  • German translation by Volker Böhnigk and Rainer Noske: Die Vernichitung der Vielfalt: Ein Bericht, Peter Engelmann (ed.), Passagen: Vienna 2005, 344 pp.
  • Portuguese translation by Cecília Prada and Marcelo Rouanet: A Conquista da Abundância, Unisinos: São Leopoldo 2005.

Content

Conquest of Abundance contains two sections. The first includes the unfinished manuscript while the second section republishes essays on themes related to the manuscript. The primary thesis of the manuscript is that the universe that surrounds us, which he calls ‘Being’, is more abundant than we usually admit.[3] By this, Feyerabend means that there are many more entities that populate various domains than are admitted into most scientific theories. Scientific theories use abstraction to simplify the phenomena which thereby reduce their empirical content.[4] Experiments in laboratories often create objects that omit many features that they possess outside of the lab.[5] Feyerabend’s thesis is not just limited to science, as he uses examples from art history – specifically Brunelleschi’s invention of perspective – to substantiate this position.[6]

Because we must reduce the abundance of Being to live our lives, Feyerabend argues that this can be done in multiple incompatible ways. Feyerabend thus defends a kind of ontological pluralism.[7] In other words, Being is pliable enough to allow for many realities but it resists some realities from creating a livable worldview.[8] Because of this diversity of realities, choice plays an important role in what theories we accept. Feyerabend defends what he calls ‘Aristotle’s principle’ which states that what counts as real depends on what kind of life we want to live.[9]

Scholarly reception

Conquest of Abundance was generally well-received[10][11][12] and has been influential in contemporary debates about science and values.[13]

References
  1. Feyerabend, Paul (1999). Conquest of Abundance. University of Chicago Press. p. 1.
  2. http://www.collodel.org/feyerabend/#D82
  3. Feyerabend, Paul (1999). Conquest of Abundance. University of Chicago Press. p. 7.
  4. Feyerabend, Paul (1999). Conquest of Abundance. University of Chicago Press. p. 5.
  5. Feyerabend, Paul (1999). Conquest of Abundance. University of Chicago Press. p. 5.
  6. Feyerabend, Paul (1999). Conquest of Abundance. University of Chicago Press. p. 91.
  7. Feyerabend, Paul (1999). Conquest of Abundance. University of Chicago Press. p. 16.
  8. Feyerabend, Paul (1999). Conquest of Abundance. University of Chicago Press. p. 145.
  9. Feyerabend, Paul (1999). Conquest of Abundance. University of Chicago Press. p. 201.
  10. Downes, Stephen (2002). "Book Review: Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction versus the Richness of Being, The Worst Enemy of Science? Essays in Memory of Paul Feyerabend". Science, Technology, & Human Values. 27 (1): 160–164.
  11. Jacobs, Struan (2006). "Book Review: Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction Versus the Richness of Being". Philosophy of the Social Sciences. 36 (3): 386–389.
  12. Preston, John (2000). "Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction versus the Richness of Being". Philosophy. 75 (294): 618–622.
  13. Brown, Matthew J. (2020). Science and Moral Imagination: A New Ideal for Science and Values. University of Pittsburgh Press.
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