Unscientific claims wrongly presented as scientific
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Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method.[Note 1] Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims; reliance on confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack of openness to evaluation by other experts; absence of systematic practices when developing hypotheses; and continued adherence long after the pseudoscientific hypotheses have been experimentally discredited.[4] It is not the same as junk science.[7]
The demarcation between science and pseudoscience has scientific, philosophical, and political implications.[8] Philosophers debate the nature of science and the general criteria for drawing the line between scientific theories and pseudoscientific beliefs, but there is widespread agreement "that creationism, astrology, homeopathy, Kirlian photography, dowsing, ufology, ancient astronaut theory, Holocaust denialism, Velikovskian catastrophism, and climate change denialism are pseudosciences."[9] There are implications for health care, the use of expert testimony, and weighing environmental policies.[9] Recent empirical research has shown that individuals who indulge in pseudoscientific beliefs generally show lower evidential criteria, meaning they often require significantly less evidence before coming to conclusions. This can be coined as a 'jump-to-conclusions' bias that can increase the spread of pseudoscientific beliefs.[10] Addressing pseudoscience is part of science education and developing scientific literacy.[11][12]
Pseudoscience can have dangerous effects. For example, pseudoscientific anti-vaccine activism and promotion of homeopathic remedies as alternative disease treatments can result in people forgoing important medical treatments with demonstrable health benefits, leading to deaths and ill-health.[13][14][15] Furthermore, people who refuse legitimate medical treatments for contagious diseases may put others at risk. Pseudoscientific theories about racial and ethnic classifications have led to racism and genocide.
The term pseudoscience is often considered pejorative, particularly by purveyors of it, because it suggests something is being presented as science inaccurately or even deceptively. Therefore, those practicing or advocating pseudoscience frequently dispute the characterization.[4][16]
^Bowler J (2003). Evolution: The History of an Idea (3rd ed.). University of California Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-520-23693-6.
^Parker Jones, O., Alfaro-Almagro, F., & Jbabdi, S. (2018). An empirical, 21st century evaluation of phrenology. Cortex. Volume 106. pp. 26–35. doi: doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2018.04.011
^Cite error: The named reference Magendie1843 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcHansson SO (2008), "Science and Pseudoscience", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, Section 2: The "science" of pseudoscience, archived from the original on 6 September 2008, retrieved 8 April 2009
^Shermer (1997).
^Gordin MP (2012). The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe. University of Chicago Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-226-30443-4.
^Kaufman AB, Kaufman JC (12 March 2019). Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science. MIT Press. p. 471. ISBN 978-0-262-53704-9. Pseudoscience is different from junk science...
^Cite error: The named reference Imre-Lakatos was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abHansson SO (3 September 2008). "Science and Pseudo-Science, Section 1: The purpose of demarcations". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2011. From a practical point of view, the distinction is important for decision guidance in both private and public life. Since science is our most reliable source of knowledge in a wide variety of areas, we need to distinguish scientific knowledge from its look-alikes. Due to the high status of science in present-day society, attempts to exaggerate the scientific status of various claims, teachings, and products are common enough to make the demarcation issue pressing in many areas.
^Rodríguez-Ferreiro J, Barberia I (21 December 2021). "Believers in pseudoscience present lower evidential criteria". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 24352. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1124352R. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-03816-5. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8692588. PMID 34934119.
^Cite error: The named reference Hurd was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Gropp RE (1 August 2003). "Evolution Activists Organize to Combat Pseudoscience in Public Schools". BioScience. 53 (8): 700. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0700:EAOTCP]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0006-3568. S2CID 84435133.
^Vyse S (10 July 2019). "What Should Become of a Monument to Pseudoscience?". Skeptical Inquirer. Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
^"How anti-vax pseudoscience seeps into public discourse". Salon. 13 January 2019. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
^"Anti-vaccination websites use 'science' and stories to support claims, study finds". Johns Hopkins. Science Daily. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
^Frietsch U (7 April 2015). "The boundaries of science/ pseudoscience". European History Online. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
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Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method...
topics that have, either currently or in the past, been characterized as pseudoscience by academics or researchers. Detailed discussion of these topics may...
The history of pseudoscience is the study of pseudoscientific theories over time. A pseudoscience is a set of ideas that presents itself as science, while...
Bourgeois pseudoscience (Russian: Буржуазная лженаука) was a term of condemnation in the Soviet Union for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed...
Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed...
Pignotti MG (2015). "Chapter 4: Pseudoscience in Treating Adults Who Experienced Trauma". Science and Pseudoscience in Social Work Practice. Springer...
widely considers parapsychology, including the study of clairvoyance, a pseudoscience. Pertaining to the ability of clear-sightedness, clairvoyance refers...
existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected...
are known only from anecdotes. Second sight and ESP are classified as pseudosciences. In the 1930s, at Duke University in North Carolina, J. B. Rhine and...
Reiki is a pseudoscience, and its practice has been characterized as quackery. Reiki is used as an illustrative example of pseudoscience in scholarly...
proof of the existence of such powers, and describes the practice as pseudoscience. The word "psychic" is also used as an adjective to describe such abilities...
no more effective than random chance. It is therefore regarded as a pseudoscience. Dowsing originated in ancient times, when it was treated as a form...
generally regarded by skeptics and science educators as an example of pseudoscience. Ufology is a neologism derived from UFO (a term apparently coined by...
ISBN 0-87169-183-3 Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 6th ed., Oxford University Press, 2008. Haughton, Brian...
synchronicity, apparitional experiences, etc. Criticized as being a pseudoscience, the majority of mainstream scientists reject it. Parapsychology has...
Chiropractic Education International List of topics characterized as pseudoscience Toftness device World Federation of Chiropractic Chapman-Smith DA, Cleveland...
of topics characterized as pseudoscience Scientific skepticism Tuomela, R (1987). "Science, Protoscience, and Pseudoscience". In Pitt JC, Marcello P (eds...
The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience is a two-volume collection of articles that discuss the Skeptics Society's scientific findings of investigations...
supported by scientific evidence, and as such it is considered to be a pseudoscience. Graphology has been controversial for more than a century. Although...
Sadhguru (born Jagadish Vasudev, 3 September 1957) is the founder and head of the Isha Foundation, based in Coimbatore, India. The foundation, established...
The Commission on Pseudoscience (Russian: Комиссия по борьбе с лженаукой) is a Russian scientific organization under the Presidium of the Russian Academy...
Feder, Kenneth (2008). Frauds, myths, and mysteries : science and pseudoscience in archaeology (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN 9780073405292...
nationalism and pseudoscience". Quartz India. Retrieved 31 January 2019. Kaufman, Allison B.; Kaufman, James C. (2018). Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy...
other dismissive labels, such as pseudoarchaeology, pseudohistory, and pseudoscience. Describing ideas as fringe theories may be less pejorative than describing...
personality, it has been dismissed by personality assessment experts as pseudoscience. The origins and historical development of the Enneagram of Personality...
of historic metrology are highly speculative and can be qualified as pseudoscience. In 1637, John Greaves, professor of geometry at Gresham College, made...