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In human culture, the concept of pseudoscience is an ambiguous notion. In fact, pseudoscience represents the hypotheses that are contrary to the established scientific facts. Although, mass consciousness does not see the difference between science and pseudoscience, the society must have an understanding of the pseudoscience characteristics and the way it differs from the science. This essay aims at discussing the definition of pseudoscience, its peculiarities, the major points on which it varies from science, as well as certain examples of such entity.
Science is a special kind of cognitive activity aimed at obtaining, refining, and production of objective, systemically organized, and well-founded knowledge about nature, society, and thought. The basis of this activity is to gather scientific evidence, its constant updating, systematization, and critical analysis. Furthermore, it involves the synthesis of new knowledge, which describes the observed natural or social phenomena and allows people to construct a cause-effect relationship.
Pseudoscience is the uncritical use of a new, untested method that differs from science by the negation of refutation and the neglect of methodological principles. Pseudoscience is also a socio-psychological phenomenon that claims the status and authority of science with carrying out public functions that are not related to obtaining reliable and practically effective knowledge.
The concept of pseudoscience has a number of specific characteristics. Firstly, it is the uncritical analysis of baseline data. As a result, a representative of pseudoscience may use legends and myths as the general facts. Secondly, it is the neglect of contradictory facts. The representative of pseudoscience has interest only in the material that can be interpreted in favor of the peculiar concept, and the rest of information is not considered. Thirdly, it is the immutability of beliefs regardless of any objections. Real scientists, however, do not hesitate to admit an error because they believe in the scientific method, which guarantees the eventual elimination of errors. The next element is the lack of laws. The representatives of pseudoscience often take into account the story or narrative instead of the real and argumentative concept. For example, in ufology, the most unacceptable element is the lack of adequate understanding and solid evidence. Thus, the issues related to the origin of the aliens are unconvincing and superficial. The last feature of pseudoscience is the violation of generally accepted ethical standards. In fact, this aspect refers to deviant science with the substitution of experimental results being an immoral act.
There are three major differences between science and pseudoscience. Firstly, it is the content of its knowledge. The allegations of pseudoscience bear no connection with the argumentative facts and do not withstand objective practical testing. For example, scientists have spent a lot of time checking the effectiveness of astrological predictions, and the results have always been negative. Anyway, astrologers are indifferent to the negative results of such checks because the accurate prediction of the future is not the purpose of this pseudoscience. Secondly, the pseudoscience is different from science regarding the structure of basic knowledge. Pseudoscientific knowledge is fragmentary and does not fit into any integrated picture of the world, namely, is not practically applicable because of its inconsistency. Lastly, pseudoscience supports the irrefutability of their hypotheses. For instance, various theological studies treat their dogmas as non-negotiable truths without checking their authenticity. In contrast, science recognizes the fallacy of allegations and seeks improvements.
To conclude, pseudoscience is a theoretical construct, which contains varying degrees and proportions of controversial statements. Nonetheless, pseudoscience tries to use scientific methodology and claims to have the status of science. Science, on the other hand, is a human activity consisting in the collection of information about the world and constantly questioning its trustworthiness. In other words, the representatives of science support the synthesis of new knowledge and its further confirmation or refutation by means of experiments. The main differences of pseudoscience from real science are the neglect of methodological principles, irrefutability of hypotheses, and the use of non-scholastic evidence forms such as stories and narratives. Therefore, the reliability of the data presented by any pseudoscience is always highly disputable.
About the author: Juliette Patioson is a bachelor in English philology and sociology at California University. She is currently working as one of the best writers at the https://elitewritings.com/buy-a-literary-analysis-essay-online.html She also studies feminine psychology.

2020-08-10 22:54:45, views: 44, Comments: 0