A comparison and critique of Bergson and Feyerabend's understanding of philosophy and science

Philosophy and science, while relying on different methodologies throughout history, have been two fundamental fields that complement each other in humanity's quest for knowledge. Science initially developed out of curiosity aimed at meeting practical needs, while philosophy drew on the love of knowing the truth. Metaphysics has also been present as one of the founding elements of this common ground, but in the modern era, it has been separated from philosophy and science and relegated to a secondary position. Over time, this separation has led to philosophers interested in science being viewed as distant from metaphysics, and those interested in metaphysics being viewed as distant from science. This study aims to demonstrate that philosophy, science, and metaphysics are not mutually exclusive fields, but rather fields that nourish each other. To this end, the philosophical and scientific understandings of Henri Bergson and Paul Feyerabend, two philosophers who profoundly influenced 19th and 20th century philosophy and belonged to different philosophical schools, have been subjected to a comparative analysis. Due to his intuitive and spiritualist stance, Bergson's scientific knowledge has been overshadowed, while Feyerabend, known for his epistemological anarchism, has been positioned as a thinker distant from metaphysics. However, when the philosophical and scientific understandings of both philosophers are considered holistically, it is seen that they reinterpreted philosophy and science in terms of freedom, creativity, and pluralism. This interpretation developed through the interaction of philosophy, science, and metaphysics. The study first outlines a general framework based on the triangle of philosophy, science, and metaphysics, focusing on the impact of the positivist school in the 19th century, the emergence of Bergsonism and Bergsonism's reflections in Turkey. Following this, the philosophical and scientific understandings of both philosophers are examined in depth. Bergson's concepts of duration, intuition, and creative evolution; and Feyerabend's critique of method, epistemological anarchism, and defense of scientific pluralism are central to revealing the complementary aspects of philosophy and science. In this context, the critiques both philosophers directed at the history of philosophy while developing their own understandings of philosophy and science, and the understandings of philosophy and science they built upon these critiques, are evaluated in the context of their relation to metaphysics. As a result of these evaluations, it has been revealed that philosophy, science, and metaphysics, which are often contrasted in modern thought, are actually complementary fields, as shown by based on the original philosophical contributions of Bergson and Feyerabend. The possibility of an understanding of science and philosophy based on freedom and pluralism has been pointed out. Keywords: Henri Bergson, Paul Feyerabend, Intuitionism, Epistemological Anarchism, Pluralism.