Tuboly, Adam Tamas (2025) On the value of pseudoscience and its philosophical study. [Preprint]
![[img]](https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Text
Value of pseudoscience_Tuboly.pdf - Accepted Version Download (484kB) |
Abstract
In philosophy of science, the pseudosciences (like cryptozoology, homeopathy, Flat-Earth Theory, anti-vaccination activism, etc.) have been treated mainly negatively. They are viewed not simply as false, but even dangerous, since they try to mimic our best scientific theories, thus gaining respect and trust from the public, without the appropriate credentials. As a result, philosophers have traditionally put considerable effort into demarcating genuine sciences and scientific theories from pseudoscience. Since these general attempts at demarcation have repeatedly been shown to break down, the present paper takes a different and somewhat more positive approach to the study of pseudoscience. My main point is not that we should embrace and accept the pseudosciences as they are, but rather that there are indeed valuable and important lessons inherent in the study of pseudoscience and the different sections of the paper list at least six of them. By showing, through numerous examples, how (the study of) pseudoscience can teach us something about science, ourselves, and society, it makes the case that as philosophers, we should devote more time and energy to engaging with such beliefs and theories to help remedy their harmful effects.
| Export/Citation: | EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL |
| Social Networking: |
| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators: |
|
||||||
| Keywords: | pseudoscience, values, fringe science, Karl Popper, cryptozoology, Paul Feyerabend, demarcation | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science vs. Pseudoscience General Issues > Values In Science |
||||||
| Depositing User: | Dr. Adam Tamas Tuboly | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 05 Jul 2025 12:07 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 05 Jul 2025 12:07 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 25891 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science vs. Pseudoscience General Issues > Values In Science |
||||||
| Date: | 4 July 2025 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/25891 |
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}