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"Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

"They laughed at Galileo. They laughed at Newton. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown." -- Carl Sagan

My impression of the usage of Junk Science is that it is primarily reserved for 'scientific' testimony in personal injury and malpractice lawsuits - maybe not, though. --MichaelTinkler

How about adding Aristotle as an example of pseudoscience? Specifically, his assertion that a rock 20 times heavier than another will fall 20 times faster.

See protoscience. Somebody makes a claim, people work on it, the facts come out.

Aristotle was not pseudoscience simply because of the definition of the term. Pseudoscience is work which inaccurately claims to be "scientific" (ie. is in accordance with the accepted scientific method). As the scientific method really only began to take shape during the Renaissance, Aristotle is exempted. Also, the entry on the Socratic Method will better explain the approach used by the ancient great thinkers. And to be fair, Aristotle did not contradict any of the 'facts' as known at the time - it was only around 1500 when Galileo was the first (western thinker) to convincingly prove that acceleration due to gravity is independent of mass. As someone pointed out below, if someone put forward Aristotle's viewpoints *today* then it absolutely would be pseudoscience (or junk science)- MB

Exactamente  :-) Or perhaps more pointedly, if someone today maintained such views in the face of scientific study to the contrary (as opposed to saying, "Oops. I was wrong about that").

That claim may well be pseudoscience. But did Aristotle really make the claim? I suspect what we have here is some pseudoscolarship as well. Who claimed that Aristotle made this claim?

The connotation I have for "pseudo" or "junk" science is that it refers to beliefs or ideas, perhaps wrapped in "scientific-sounding" jargon (Like the Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet schtick I just saw on TV), that have no supporting evidence, and usually go so far as to conflict with current scientific thought.

Just assuming for sake of argument that Aristotle or a contemporary did say that ("rate of fall is proportional to weight") -- was that the commonly held "scientific" (or what passed for such in those times) belief, or was it contrary to it? If it summed up the current theory, I'd call it mistaken and later disproved, but not pseudo. If that view were espoused *today*, I would call it junk science, along with indivisible atoms and a Newtonian universe.

These are "approximations" or "metaphors". Good enough to get you to work in the morning. Not good enough for Stephen Hawking.

The Chinese government has put in a lot of scientific research in acupuncture since the 1970s. Has those research proved the discipline as non-scientific? If not, what does it take to remove the pseudoscience label from accupuncture?

Specific uses of accupuncture have shown positive results in tests. The problem is that the only tests that worked were for relief of pain, which is an inherently subjective hard-to-measure thing, so small statistical successes don't mean much (as opposed to tests on things like Aspirin, where results are huge--as a friend of mine once put it, you shouldn't have to squint hard to see reality). Further, the theory behind accupuncture--flow of qi, all of that--is total nonsense; mostly unfalsifiable, and easily falsified where it isn't. If you want to know when "accupuncture" will be acceptable, define your terms: do you mean some specific use of a clearly defined procedure for a clearly defined problem with measurable results? Then name it, and do the tests. If it clearly works (and not just some small statistical subjective result), then that method will be accepted as a fully scientific method. If you mean the "theory" of accumpunture, the answer is "never", because those few aspects of it that were scientifically testable failed, and the rest is just religious nonsense. --LDC

The definition of acupuncture as "pseudoscience" actually bothers me, simply because I do not know of any literature which claims that acupuncture defines itself as "scientific". My (to be fair, limited) knowledge of it tends to suggest that it does not attempt to defend itself in any way, it just goes on not giving a damn what science thinks. The term pseudoscience is generally reserved for belief systems that claim scientific backing when none is actually present (eg. dianetics, iridology).

I do not see the difference between the "Qi" energy (and related concepts) which underpin acupuncture and, say, the existence of God, Angels, etc which are regular features of any theological belief system. So in summary - if acupuncture is a belief system (with related practices) then it is not pseudoscience, BUT if it claims to be "scientific" then it is, because its therapeutic powers cannot be scientifically verified. That's my $0.02 - MB

-- possibly we want to file acupuncture as a Fringe science if anybody wants to flesh out that entry.

I would classify Skepdic as pseudoscholarship. They are pretty much written by one guy and often are pretty biased. should we be hesitant to link to an inferior source from here, even if its more comprehensive?

One vote for "Skepdic is generally pretty darn good".

Their hearts are in the right place, and they are pretty comprehensive, but the treatments of each topic are pretty shallow and openly biased. --LDC

Agreed - I think the text accompanying the link makes this clear. - MB

I re-instituted the word "factual" because that is a key defining element of a pseudoscience - they present themselves as being "factual".

Also Lee introduced the idea that a scientific theory that remains to be scientifically verified (ie - it is compatible with current evidence, but makes predictions not yet tested) constitutes pseudoscience. This is simply wrong - this is what is known as protoscience. A pseudoscience is characterised by its claims of accuracy and validation, when such claims are erroneous and/or deliberately misleading. - MB

Do you think so? When we read about claimants for James Randi's million dollar prize they often seem quite evasive about accuracy and validation.

Well then that is pseudoscience. If you are in accordance with the scientific method "as far as is possible", then you are working in protoscience. Pseudoscience is characterised by its attempts to circumvent the rules, or its claims of accuracy where such claims have not been (or cannot be) validated. If I say "here is a hypothesis, here is the supporting evidence, and here are the predictions based on it" then that is good scientific work waiting to be supported or refuted. If I say - "here is my theory and it is correct, so there!", then that is pseudoscience. - MB

What, exactly, do you feel is too "sweeping" about the definition, and how would you suggest changing it? It seems reasonable to me. --LDC

Ed, I don't think protoscience is actually an exception. It hasn't failed the definition, it just hasn't entered for it yet. -- sodium

LDC, sodium: At a glance, it is not easy to distinguish pseudoscience which "has failed to be validated" from protoscience which "has yet to be properly tested and either supported or refuted." Ed Poor

Yes - I misread the definition. It says "failed to be *validated* in accordance with," not "failed in accordance with," meaning any knowledge purporting to be scientific but not rigorously tested yet. Protoscience would (without your sentence) be pseudoscience until it was tested.

So ignore my previous comment - 2 errors in one day :-( -- sodium

You're right, though, that it's hard to distinguish sometimes. And that's for good reason: there isn't much to distinguish them except intent. "Protoscience" is often conjecture that can't be tested yet because of lack of technology or resources, or things currently undergoing testing, but that its proponents fully admit is speculative and intend to reject if those tests fail. Pseudoscience generally avoids testing, or uses bad tests, or uses techniques of rhetoric to support its contention with no intention to ever discard the theories for any reason. An experimental drug, for example, is a protoscience if its makers are currently undergoing good double-blind studies to determine if it works. An herbal remedy that is sold with testimonials (which are known to be invalid evidence) and which its sellers avoid doing good controlled studies on is pseudoscience. --LDC

NB: Science is defined as "any body of knowledge organized in a systematic manner" and as such Dianetics falls into the category of science regardless of popular opinion or accepted scientific method.

Moved here from the main page. I don't believe you are using an accurate def. of science. Please think through this, there are lots of things organized in a systematic manner (my banking statment for example) which are not sciences.

Mark - thanks for fixing that - the rules of "Dungeons and Dragons" are also a science under this definition. This is one of my pet articles, but as I'm presently in India I can't monitor the article closely. I'm mildly perturbed about the statement "parapsychology is on the border between proto and pseudo." I can't see any justification for this statement. Most parapsychology has been refuted completely - hence it is pseudoscience. Thoughts? - ManningBartlett

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re "The motivations for the promotion of pseudoscience range from simple naivety about the methodological rigour of the scientific method, to deliberate deception for financial exploitation (e.g., ?)." The very specific reference to psychic surgery here suggests that this group's practitioners perform exclusively for financial exploitation. The range of motivation in this group is as varied as in any other group mentioned in this article. Some psychic surgeons have refused payment because they believed that such a motivation would limit their abilities. I plan to delete the example.
I hope to say more on this subject, but I shall tread very carefully so as to to maintain the neutral view. I don't really like the word 'pseudoscience' because of its implicit value judgements, but it will have to do for now until something better comes along. I can also live with the short definition in the first paragraph. I am especially pleased that the writer of that paragraph has not committed the logical falacy which claims that not proven means false. user:Eclecticology

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I continue to puzzle over how to fairly approach this topic where the comments of opponents tend to be just as pseudoscientific as the topic they try to attack. The article as it stands is full of gratuitous claims that some practice or other is pseudoscientific, as though merely making such a simple statement were all that was needed to establish that as fact. I like the general tone of the article as long as it is giving a broad outline of pseudoscience, and establishing broad criteria for examining the credibility of a particular status. After that it falls apart because people abandon and ignore the criteria they have just laid down.

One very important criterion is that someone who is broadly respected by the adherents of that practice must have made a claim (perhaps even implicitly) that it is scientific. How can we establish that something is pseudoscientific when nobody claimed ot to be scientific in the first place? The respected spokesperson concept is important, because it prevents us from basing our judgement of an entire subject on the claims of a local practitioner whose application may not even be consistent with the broader practice. See straw man

My proposal is that after an introductory section the article should include a brief comment about each mentioned practice. (Anything more would appropriately be in a separate article) A possible format for each might be:

Scapulomancy

• What it is: An ancient chinese practice of divination by examining the pattern of cracks on animal shoulder blades when these were cast in a fire.
• Claims: No current claims.
• Refutation: Not applicable.
• Conclusion: An abandoned ancient practice.

Eclecticology