Reexamining the Problem of Demarcating Science and Pseudoscience

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dc.contributor.authorWestre, Evan
dc.contributor.supervisorYap, Audrey
dc.date.accessioned2014-05-01T20:25:22Z
dc.date.available2014-05-01T20:25:22Z
dc.date.copyright2014en_US
dc.date.issued2014-05-01
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Philosophy
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe demarcation problem aims to articulate the boundary between science and pseudoscience. Solutions to the problem have been notably raised by the logical positivists (verificationism), Karl Popper (falsificationism), and Imre Lakatos (methodology of research programmes). Due, largely, to the conclusions drawn by Larry Laudan, in a pivotal 1981 paper which dismissed the problem of demarcation as a “pseudo-problem”, the issue was brushed aside for years. Recently, however, there has been a revival of attempts to reexamine the demarcation problem and synthesize new solutions. My aim is to survey two of the contemporary attempts and to assess these approaches over and against the broader historical trajectory of the demarcation problem. These are the efforts of Nicholas Maxwell (aim-oriented empiricism), and Paul Hoyningen-Huene (systematicity). I suggest that the main virtue of the new attempts is that they promote a self-reflexive character within the sciences. A modern demarcation criterion should be sensitive towards the dynamic character of the sciences. Using, as an example, a case study of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I also suggest that the potential for conflict between demarcation conclusions and the empirical success of a pseudoscientific discipline is problematic. I question whether it is sensible to reject, as pseudoscientific, a discipline which seems to display empirical success in cases where the rival paradigm, contemporary western medicine, is not successful. Ultimately, I argue that there are both good theoretical and good pragmatic grounds to support further investigation into a demarcation criterion and that Laudan’s dismissal of the problem was premature.en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0422en_US
dc.description.proquestcode0402en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/5355
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights.tempAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectphilosophyen_US
dc.subjectscienceen_US
dc.subjectpseudoscienceen_US
dc.subjectdemarcationen_US
dc.subjectpopperen_US
dc.subjectlakatosen_US
dc.subjectcarnapen_US
dc.subjectlaudanen_US
dc.subjecttraditional chinese medicineen_US
dc.subjectosteoarthritisen_US
dc.subjectmaxwellen_US
dc.subjectfalsificationismen_US
dc.subjectverificationismen_US
dc.subjectmethodology of scientific research programmesen_US
dc.subjectproblem of inductionen_US
dc.subjectsystematicityen_US
dc.titleReexamining the Problem of Demarcating Science and Pseudoscienceen_US
dc.title.alternativeRe-examining the Problem of Demarcating Science and Pseudoscienceen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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