In short: As the world has figured out ways of sorting reliable information from unreliable information, so philosophy has had to figure out ways of demarcating science from 'pseudo-'science.

1. PS409
Psychology, Science,
& Pseudoscience
Dr Brian Hughes
School of Psychology
brian.hughes@nuigalway.ie @b_m_hughes

2. “Science” (blah, blah, blah)
“any system of knowledge that is concerned with the physical
world and its phenomena and that entails unbiased
observations and systematic experimentation”
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
“1. the systematic observation of natural events and
conditions in order to discover facts about them and to
formulate laws and principles based on these facts. 2. the
organized body of knowledge that is derived from such
observations and that can be verified or tested by further
investigation” (Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology)
“The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure
Nature hasn't misled you into thinking you know something
you don't actually know.”
(Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

3. (Very) Brief History of Science
Up to middle ages: science = philosophy
16th/17th century: questioning of religious
explanations
(e.g., Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo)
17th century: separation of scientific and
religious subject matter
(e.g., Bacon, Descartes)
18th/19th century: radicalisation of
mechanistic worldview
(e.g., Newton, Nietsche)
19th century: focus on distinction between
science and non-science
(e.g., Darwinian vs. religious accounts of evolution)

4. Demarcation of Science and
Nonscience
1920s: “Logical Positivism”
(The Vienna Circle) – emphasis on
verification
1930s: Empirical falsifiability
(Karl Popper) – emphasis on
falsification

10. Demarcation of Science and
Nonscience
1920s: “Logical Positivism”
(The Vienna Circle) – emphasis on
verification
1930s: Empirical falsifiability
(Karl Popper) – emphasis on
falsification
1960s: Scientific revolutionism
(Thomas Kuhn) – normal science,
extraordinary science, and
paradigm shifts
1970s: Anarchism
(e.g., Paul Feyerabend) – radical
subjectivity, postmodernism
applied to science

11. Science: As much ‘how’ as ‘what’
SCIENCE
PROCESS PRODUCT

12. “Products” of science
Leydesdorff & Rafols (2009). Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60, 348-362.

13. “Products” of science
http://users.fmg.uva.nl/lleydesdorff/map06/index.htm

14. “Products” of science
http://users.fmg.uva.nl/lleydesdorff/map06/index.htm

15. “Products” of science
http://users.fmg.uva.nl/lleydesdorff/map06/index.htm

16. “Products” of science
http://users.fmg.uva.nl/lleydesdorff/map06/index.htm

17. “Processes” of science
Some philosophical assumptions
Determinism
Empiricism
Skepticism
Some methodological principles
Observation
Measurement
Experimentation
Some reasoning principles
Parsimony
Falsification
Objectivity

18. Pseudoscience
A practice or body of knowledge that purports to be
scientific but which diverges from the quality-
standards conventionally applied to science and
scientists
(Click forward for videos)

19. PS409
Psychology, Science,
& Pseudoscience
Dr Brian Hughes
School of Psychology
brian.hughes@nuigalway.ie @b_m_hughes