Uma Filosofia Natural a partir da Física: a proposta de cientistas-filósofos vienenses de Mach a Feyerabend

Abstract

Throughout the development of the thesis, the initial analysis of the notion of Weltanschauung in the context of Austrian physics and its relationship with natural philosophy enabled a broader investigation, i.e., the possibility of conceiving a natural philosophy based on Paul Feyerabend. From Ludwig Boltzmann to Feyerabend, there is an acceptance of indeterminism in the context of Austrian physics and philosophy not as antagonistic to determinism, but as "complementary." This perspective is grounded in the ideas of physicists such as Franz Exner, Friedrich Hasenöhrl, Philipp Frank, Hans Thirring, Guido Beck, and Erwin Schrödinger, who rejected the absolutization of concepts like causality and determinism, advocating instead for a pluralistic and historically contextualized approach. For these thinkers, history played a fundamental role in understanding the evolution of scientific concepts, allowing for a critique of philosophical and scientific dogmas that became established more out of habit than epistemic necessity. Regarding Feyerabend, his intellectual trajectory reflects this Viennese tradition. The thesis explores his ambiguous relationship with mathematics, his critique of the lack of ontological grounding for certain physical concepts, and his defense of pluralism. Furthermore, the thesis addresses Feyerabend's proposal for a New Philosophical and Mythological Science, which seeks to overcome traditional dichotomies, such as subject-object and thought-experience. This proposal revives the capacity of science to produce worldviews and cultural values, something lost with the increasing specialization and mathematization of modern science. His critique of the elitization of scientific knowledge and his valorization of pluralistic and historically contextualized approaches reflect the influence of the Austrian physics tradition on his thought. Finally, the non-realization of this New Philosophical and Mythological Science is related both to the criticisms Feyerabend received, especially after the publication of Against Method, and to the inherent difficulties in formulating such a comprehensive and innovative approach. The thesis argues that the abandonment of the *Naturphilosophie* project may reflect not only the negative reception of his ideas but also the complexity of proposing a natural philosophy that avoids falling into dogmatism or excessive specialization.