One cannot but agree that the spread and popularization of pseudoscience is one of the most serious problems of modern culture. The main difficulty in dealing with it lies in the ability of its main adherents to combine in their "works" scientism and messianism, which for an unprepared person creates the illusion of a new word in science.
The origin of pseudoscience
Before determining the main features and varieties of this phenomenon, it is necessary to understand the question: how did the emergence of pseudoscience become possible? It is hardly possible to consider, for example, alchemy of the XIV century or Babylonian astrology as such. First, their development was not associated with the denial of existing knowledge about the properties of chemicals in the first case and the patterns of planetary motion in the second. Secondly, within the framework of these disciplines there was a real accumulation of scientific knowledge, although the goals set - the search for the philosopher's stone and the establishment of the influence of stars on the fate of man - do not cause much confidence. Nowadays, we already boldly attribute both alchemy and astrology to pseudosciences, since with the development of chemistry and astronomy, these "sciences" are leftonly to convince people that by means of a certain substance it is possible to turn any metal into gold and to look for signs of fate in solar eclipses.
Thus, the history of pseudoscience begins in the period of modern times (begins approximately from the middle of the 17th century). The religious picture of the world, characteristic of the Middle Ages, is consistently replaced by a rationalistic one, where evidence is assumed instead of faith. However, the volume of accumulation of scientific knowledge turned out to be so rapid, and the discoveries of scientists, especially in the field of natural sciences, sometimes contradicted the prevailing ideas. This entailed the construction of numerous exotic theories. Over time, the flow of discoveries has not dried up. The theory of relativity and quantum mechanics have shown that even such an unconditionally scientific discipline as classical physics, created by Isaac Newton, does not work under certain conditions.
Besides this, philosophy has made a significant contribution to the possibility of developing pseudoscientific disciplines. In an effort to comprehend the world, many thinkers put forward the idea that Being is an illusion. This led to the conclusion that scientific knowledge about the world is an illusion. Breaking out of the limits of scientific reasoning, these ideas in the mass consciousness began to cause thoughts that the world could be arranged differently than it is supposed by the scientific environment.
Thus, pseudoscience has become a reaction to unexpected and sometimes contradictory data obtained by scientists. Since they themselves could not sometimes explain the discovered facts, pseudo-scientific speculation became common.phenomenon. The end of the 19th century was marked by a boom in séances, in which many prominent figures, in particular the writer Arthur Conan Doyle, saw one of the means of understanding the world. The development of the then pseudosciences was, in principle, closely connected with occult practices. Even then, their adherents took a rather aggressive position in relation to the scientific community. For example, H. P. Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, in her "Secret Doctrine" sub titled "Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy", openly ridiculed scientific achievements in the field of electromagnetism.
Terminology issues
This excursion into history shows that the area of non-scientific "knowledge" is extremely wide. It can include both theories built in compliance with all the principles of scientific character, but based on incorrect premises, and openly and aggressively opposing the established system of scientific knowledge. In view of this, it is necessary to introduce terms that would distinguish between extra-scientific ways of "acquiring knowledge." This is a rather difficult task, since the boundaries between them are quite blurred.
- A quasi-science is considered to be such knowledge, in which, in various proportions, there are both scientific and erroneous or deliberately falsified provisions.
- Parascience is understood as such a system of theories, the main provisions of which deviate significantly from scientific dogmas with a significant preponderance towards erroneous ideas.
- Pseudosciencerepresents such an area of "knowledge", the provisions of which either do not correspond to scientific data, or contradict them, and the subject of research either does not exist or is falsified.
Separately, it should be said about the phenomenon of anti-science that has been gaining momentum lately. As follows from the term itself, its adherents see absolute evil in scientific knowledge. Anti-scientific statements, as a rule, are associated either with the activities of religious fanatics who believe that there is no truth outside of a certain deity, or come from poorly educated segments of the population.
The boundaries between quasi-science and pseudoscience are very blurred. Homeopathy has been considered a possible treatment for many diseases for two hundred years, and before the discoveries of Kepler and Halley it was impossible to speak of astrology as a pseudoscience. Therefore, when using these terms, it is necessary to take into account the historical stage and the conditions existing on it.
Factors of pseudoscientific theories
One of the conditions for the emergence of extra-scientific "knowledge" has already been given: a change in worldviews and a worldview crisis corresponding to it. The second is associated with unacceptable errors in the course of the study, such as the perception of some details as irrelevant, the lack of experimental verification, or ignoring external factors. The logic of research is thus straightened out and simplified. The result is the accumulation of erroneous facts and the construction of an incorrect theory.
The third condition also stems from errors in the research work, but which arose no longer by choiceresearcher. In many areas of knowledge, some facts, with insufficient development of the instrumental and theoretical base, turn out to be inaccessible to him. Others cannot be tested experimentally. In this case, the researcher, following his intuition, may proceed to too strong generalizations, which also results in the construction of an erroneous theory.
If it is possible for quasi- and parascience to admit mistakes, then pseudoscience does not at all seek to refute itself. On the contrary, there is a "scientific" substantiation of errors in which terms that make no sense are used like "aura", "torsion field" or "bioenergy". Adepts of pseudoscience in their research sometimes use a deliberately complicated language, give a lot of formulas and diagrams, behind which an inexperienced reader loses sight of the subject of research itself and is imbued with confidence in the "erudition" of its author.
Another factor in the emergence and successful dissemination of pseudoscientific theories is the crisis of official science. It should be recognized that the state or society is not always interested in fundamental research in any area. The vacuum formed in this case is immediately occupied by various kinds of people who seek to profit from human trust. One of the most famous modern pseudosciences in this field is homeopathy.
Signs of a pseudoscientific theory
You don't have to be an expert in a particular field to determine whether a study is scientific or worthless. ToA scientific publication is always subject to a number of requirements, including those of a formal nature. A pseudoscientific publication rarely follows these rules.
An indispensable element of a truly scientific research is the presence of a list of sources and literature used in the work, which also contains publications previously produced by the author in accredited publications. For obvious reasons, pseudoscientific "research" cannot boast of such references.
A pseudoscientific publication does not have such an important structural element as an abstract or introduction, which would clearly formulate the goals and objectives of the study, as well as the methods used to solve them. Accordingly, there is no conclusion, which sets out the findings.
A follower of pseudoscience almost always takes a pronounced aggressive position in relation to the data of official science. A large part of the text is spent on "debunking" the usual ideas that are supposedly imposed on society (it is worth opening any volume of the "New Chronology" by A. T. Fomenko and G. V. Nosovsky, and accusations of professional historians of falsifying data for unknown purposes will be found there). Instead, the author of such a work willingly talks about his unexpected discoveries, leaving aside their subject. In the scientific community, such methods are considered unacceptable, and all the merits of the author consist only in listing his publications.
Science and pseudoscience also differ in that instead of the overview information on the topic necessary in the first case and its development by othersresearchers, the author of a pseudoscientific work cites his own reasoning of a philosophical nature, at best having only an indirect relation to the problem under study. In this regard, the exploitation of such topics as global catastrophes, life extension, decline in morals, and so on is especially popular. In addition to creating science, such reasoning is used as a publicity stunt.
Finally, one of the most recognizable moves of the authors of "research" from pseudoscience is the "claim to be a miracle". In such a work, facts, phenomena and theories that were not known to anyone before are described, the verification of which cannot be made. At the same time, the author willingly uses scientific terminology, distorting its meaning at his own discretion. The inaccessibility of such information to the public is explained by various conspiracy theories.
Implementation of pseudoscience
The main disciplines in which various pseudosciences and pseudosciences have taken root and feel confident include medicine, physics, biology, areas of humanitarian knowledge (history, sociology, linguistics) and even, it would seem, such a sphere protected from speculation, like mathematics. Distorting, simplifying or completely denying scientific knowledge, adherents of pseudoscience, mainly for the purpose of quick enrichment, created a number of theories and even "disciplines". You can form the following list of pseudosciences:
- astrology;
- homeopathy;
- parapsychology;
- numerology;
- phrenology;
- ufology;
- alternative history (recentlythe term "folk history" is increasingly used);
- graphology;
- cryptobiology;
- alchemy.
This list does not exhaust all the manifestations of pseudoscientific theories. Unlike official science, whose funding in most cases is not sufficient, adherents of pseudoscience earn solid funds from their theories and practices, so the emergence of new exclusive discoveries has become a mass phenomenon.
Astrology
Many serious scientists, citing examples of pseudoscience, consider astrology to be their reference representative. It should be borne in mind that we are talking about modern astrological research. There is no doubt about the objective knowledge obtained by this science in the states of ancient Mesopotamia or Greece, just as it is impossible to deny their importance for the formation and development of astronomy.
But nowadays astrology has lost its positive side. The activity of its representatives is reduced to the compilation of horoscopes and vague predictions that can be interpreted in any way. At the same time, astrology uses outdated data. The zodiacal circle used in this pseudoscience consists of 12 constellations, while it is known from astronomy that the trajectory of the Sun passes through the constellation Ophiuchus. Astrologers tried to correct the situation, but by fundamentally opposite methods. Some hurried to include Ophiuchus in the zodiac circle, while others stated that the zodiac is a sector of the ecliptic with a size of 30 degrees, which are in no way tied toconstellations.
Already from such attempts it can be concluded that modern astrology is a pseudoscience. However, many people continue to believe the predictions of astrologers, despite the fact that a little more than seven billion people live on earth, there are twelve constellations, which means that the same prediction is true for 580 million people at once.
Homeopathy
The appearance of this type of treatment can be attributed to historical curiosities. Samuel Hahnemann, a physician who lived more than two hundred years ago, based on the fact that quinine, one of the antimalarial drugs of that time, like the disease, caused him a fever, decided that any disease could be fought by causing its symptoms. Thus, the essence of the homeopathic method is to take highly diluted medicines.
Doubts about the effectiveness of this method existed from the very beginning of its existence. Understanding this, homeopaths stubbornly tried to bring a scientific basis for their activities, but to no avail. In 1998, a special "Commission to Combat Pseudoscience and Falsification of Scientific Research" was created at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Naturally, close attention was immediately paid to homeopathy. In the course of the study, it was found that expensive homeopathic remedies pose a serious he alth hazard. It was pointed out that by giving preference to them, people ignore medicines, whose effectiveness has already been proven. In 2017, homeopathy was officially labeled a pseudoscience. In addition, relevant recommendations were given to the Ministryhe althcare. The most important of these are the cessation of the use of homeopathic medicines in he alth care facilities, as well as countering their advertising.
Also, the Commission on Pseudoscience urged pharmacies not to place homeopathic medicines together with medicines with proven efficacy and to promote in print the idea of the equivalence of such concepts as "homeopathy", "magic" and "psychic".
Mathematical pseudosciences
One of the most popular objects for constructing pseudoscientific theories in the field of mathematics are numbers, and historically the most ancient such "discipline" is numerology. Its emergence is also associated with scientific needs: the Pythagorean school in ancient Greece was engaged in the study of the fundamental properties of numbers, but this went hand in hand with endowing perfect discoveries with some philosophical meaning. So, there were prime and compound, perfect, friendly and many other numbers. The study of their properties continues to this day and is of great importance for mathematics, however, apart from purely scientific goals, the representations of the Pythagoreans became the basis for the search for signs of fate enclosed in numbers.
Like other esoteric practices, numerology exists in close connection with other pseudosciences: astrology, palmistry and even alchemy. It also uses meaningless terminology: the unit is called a monad, instead of "eight" they say "oxoad". Numbers are endowed with specialproperties. For example, 9 symbolizes the divine power of a certain Creator, and 8 - Providence and Fate.
Like others, this pseudoscience is rejected by scientists. In 1993 in the UK, and 19 years later in Israel, special experiments were carried out to check whether numbers can really influence a person’s fate in any way. Their result is expected: no connection was found, however, numerologists declared the findings to be false, without proving this in any way.
Falsifications in the Humanities
History and linguistics are perhaps the most popular areas for the emergence of pseudoscientific theories. This is explained by the fact that these sciences do not provide an opportunity to test any concept. History, on the other hand, was very often rewritten at the request of the ruling circles: some events were forbidden to be mentioned, the role of other statesmen was hushed up. This attitude and the loss of many sources for various reasons (for example, due to fires) led to the formation of numerous unexplored areas, which made it possible for people far from history to put forward absolutely fantastic theories, which they present as great discoveries that change all ideas.
At present, the phenomenon of folk history or alternative history is gaining momentum. Arbitrarily using the data of linguistics, astronomy and mathematics, "researchers" to their taste either shorten the duration of history ("New Chronology"), or illegally make some events older. As noted by the researchers,professional historians for a long time preferred not to notice such publications, considering them too absurd to inspire confidence in the reader's environment. However, the crisis in the scientific community and the lack of reaction from the scientific community led to the fact that pseudoscientific theories of the origin of all the languages of the world from Russian (Slavic at best) or the existence of a powerful Russian state as early as the second millennium BC began to be perceived as true.
The already mentioned Commission on Pseudoscience is taking decisive steps to combat the spread of such "knowledge". Round tables are held on the problem, new publications are issued with a detailed and consistent debunking of the "advanced" methods of folk historians. Unfortunately, this has not yet produced tangible results: Fomenko's publications and the like are still published in large circulations, arousing interest in the reader's environment.
Fight against pseudoscience in the USSR
When listing the difficulties in defining the content of the term "pseudoscience", one of them was deliberately omitted: under certain conditions and the presence of a benefit (not necessarily material), genuine scientific disciplines were classified as such.
Thus, during the period of Stalinism in the USSR, genetics turned out to be a pseudoscience. This event was entirely political in nature. The main opponent of the supporters of the new theory of heredity was the agronomist and biologist T. D. Lysenko. Unable to oppose the provisions of genetics with any convincing scientific counterarguments, Lysenko turned to political accusations and bullying. ATIn particular, he stated that racism and fascism are the consequences of the doctrine of genes and heredity, and experiments carried out on Drosophila are a waste of people's money and direct sabotage. Conducted in the early 1930s. discussions about genetics were soon abandoned. The Great Terror began in the country, the victims of which were many biologists: G. A. Nadson, N. I. Vavilov. They were accused of spying for hostile states and other anti-government activities.
In 1948, the fight against genetics ended in Lysenko's victory. In the report he read at the session of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after Lenin, he repeated the previous argument: there is no "substance" of heredity. Supporters of genetics were allowed to come forward with rebuttals, but after that Lysenko declared that his report had been personally approved by Stalin. Under these conditions, it was impossible to continue the discussion. As a bourgeois pseudoscience, genetics in the USSR existed until the mid-60s, when, after the decoding of DNA, it became impossible to deny the existence of genes.
Another object of harassment in the USSR was cybernetics. It was first declared pseudoscience in the April 5, 1952 issue of the Literary Gazette. Again, the reasons for this were purely political: fearing that, having become acquainted with the Western way of life after the end of World War II, Soviet society would turn away from Marxist ideals, Stalin initiated a fight against cosmopolitanism and cringing before the West. Articles about the new science of information management and its transmission that appeared in the foreign press were immediately declared bourgeois obscurantism.
Currently, there are articles that the persecution of cybernetics is a myth, since the USSR very soon began to conduct research in this direction, and the lag behind the United States in the field of computer technology was insignificant. However, we should not forget: Stalinism had almost twenty years to defeat genetics, and a year fell on cybernetics. Scientists who saw no reason to consider cybernetics a pseudoscience resisted the authorities. Soon, the country's leadership made concessions, declaring that if society "doesn't mind", science will be rehabilitated. After the 20th Congress and criticism of the cult of personality, there were much more opportunities for the development of cybernetics.
Pseudoscience and society
It must be admitted: a significant part of the population is not interested in pseudoscience and the fight against it. In the 90s, when the Russian society was gripped by a systemic crisis, psychics, healers and other charlatans actually turned out to be the only ones who gave hope for a happy future. Naturally, not for free. It is not clear to the average layman why ufology is a pseudoscience, but psychology is not. There are publications on this topic, but they are clearly not enough, and sometimes they are inaccessible.
The most effective way to combat pseudoscience is to raise the educational level of the population. This, like manyanother, rests on the need to increase funding. Clearly insufficient funds are allocated for science and education. Failure to obtain the necessary knowledge is the reason for the spread in modern society of such seemingly unthinkable theories as the theory of a flat earth. The geopolitical catastrophes that happened to Russia at the beginning and end of the last century caused people to need a heroic past: it seemed to be the only alternative to the hopeless present. "Historians" immediately appeared, fantasizing with pleasure on the theme of the great pan-Slavic state, which subjugated all its neighbors in the 9th (or 7th, or 2nd - it doesn't matter) century. The high cost of he althcare, indifference to the sick, total bribery have led to an increase in distrust in medicine and more frequent requests for help from healers and homeopaths.
The psychology of pseudoscience is simple: if society has a demand for a miracle, then such a miracle will definitely appear for a certain price. However, from the rationalistic picture of the world, which all pseudosciences stubbornly struggle with, it follows that miracles do not exist. Numerology and phrenology could be considered only amusing curiosities from the history of scientific knowledge, if interest in them were not fueled by people interested in this. Therefore, we must admit that the confrontation has only just begun. And what pseudosciences are yet to appear - time will tell.
