Science, its method, and pseudoscience
Back in elementary school, or early high school, you probably took your first Science class. You probably also learned the scientific method, and did a bit of lab work, perhaps igniting hydrogen for that "popping" sound in a beaker filled with zinc and hydrochloric acid. But, like myself, you probably didn't learn and appreciate the true importance of the scientific method and how it helps to self-correct science itlself. Also, like myself, you probably also didn't learn what "pseudoscience" is, and how dangerous it can be*.
In this article, we'll take a look at each of these in more detail. I will save examples (the fun part) for future articles.
What is "Science"?
The definition of science varies from dictionary to dictionary, but the basic priciples are as follows:
- it is a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths, systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws
- it is the systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and observation
Key observation: science follows a systematic method to acquire facts or truths. It requires precise tools (be it physical, analytic, mathematical, etc), and it must be peer reviewed to be accepted. Theories must be testable, tests must be reproducible. Science is a method of discovering reliable knowledge about nature, and reliable knowledge is knowledge that has a high probability of being true because its veracity has been justified by a reliable method.
What is the Scientific Method? Why is it so important?
The method used to justify scientific knowledge, making it reliable, is the Scientific Method. Here are its steps:
Ask a question. What do you want to know? Perhaps: Why are some stars different colours? How is light produced when something is burned? Why are fishes not able to survive in distilled water? Why do eggs become hard when they are boiled?
Gather relevant information by observing. Acquire observations that are sensible, measurable, and repeatable, so that others can make the same observations. Gather qualitative data (for example, the behavior of an animal), and quantitative data (for example, "The animal weighs 35Kg.".
Create a hypothesis. What's a hypothesis? A scientific hypothesis is an informated, testable, and predictive solution to a scientific problem that explains a natural phenomenon, process, or event.
Test and challenge the hypothesis. Make further observations and create further experiments. The experiments must be controlled, including the independent and dependent variables (independant variables are the ones controlled and manipulated by the experimenter, while dependant variables are not). If applicable, the experiment should be set up to include a control group and an experimental group. The control group allows the experimenter to compare test results against the baseline measurement, to increase confidence that the results are not due to chance. Once the experiment is complete, the experimenter must analyze the data, and draw a conclusion.
Most individuals - noncritical thinkers - may stop here, and are satisfied with their first answer or solution. But this lack of skepticism is a hindrance to gaining reliable knowledge. Some proposed answers might be true, but most will be false, and further investigation will almost always be necessary to determine their validity.
If the hypotheses fails, it must be rejected and either abandoned or modified (this is hard for scientists to do, especially if one dedicates their life's work to a hypothesis, only to find out it is wrong!). If the hypotheses passes its tests, it is said to be corroborated, and can now be publised.
Now here comes the really important part:
Other scientists test the hypothesis. They challenge it and put it through further tests. If the the hypothesis becomes further corroborated, then it is said to be highly corroborated, and only now, after being verified by other scientists, is it considered to be reliable knowledge. It is this step that is the self-correcting aspect of science, which makes it such a powerful tool for gathering reliable knowledge.
Steven D. Shchafersman says it best: "A scientific fact is a highly corroborated hypothesis that has been so repeatedly tested and for which so much reliable evidence exists, that it would be irrational to deny it." This is the closest we can come to "truth", since there are many definitions of "truth".
Finally, the last step is to construct, support, or cast doubt on a scientific theory. A scientific theory is not a guess, speculation, or suggestion (a popular definition). It is a unifying and self-consistent explanation of fundamental natural processes or phenomena that is totally contructed of corroborated hypotheses. It is built on reliable knowledge, or facts. There are so many examples of theories: gravity, relativity, thermodynamics, evolution, genetics, plate tectonics, to name a few.
What is "Pseudoscience"?
Pseudoscience is a belief or practice (sometimes the word "methodology" will be included) that claims to be scientific, but which does not adhere to an appropriate scientific methodology (ie: the scientific method), lacks supporting, testable, plausible evidence. (note that the prefix "pseudo" is Greek for "false" or "pretending".
Pseudoscience has been characterized by the use of vague, exaggerated or untestable claims, over-reliance on confirmation rather than refutation, lack of openness to testing by other experts, and a lack of progress in theory development (see Wikipedia for further details). In addition, proponents of pseudoscience will frequently use and abuse the logic fallacies presented in my earlier article.
Some examples of pseudoscience?
Astrology/horoscopes, alchemy, homeopathy, iridolology, cryptozoology (ex: Big Foot, Nessie), creationism/intelligent design, prophecies (usually doomsday), psychic phenomenon (ex: Sylvia Brown), paranormal phenomenon... the list goes on, and we'll dive deep into these later on.
So is pseudoscience dangerous? Usually.
It can penetrate our political systems and educational systems, driving out science and sensibility. In the health field, it dooms thousands to unnessecary suffering or death (ie, anti-vaccination, or trying homeopathy before/instead of proper cancer treatment). It penetrates religion, generating fanaticism and intolerance. It penetrates the media, making it difficult for the public to distinguish fact from fiction. To read further on this, I suggest this article, found over at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry: http://www.csiop.org/si/show/why_is_pseudoscience_dangerous/
And there you have it - Science, its method, and pseudoscience. Now that we have a foundation off which to build, we can put on our skeptical hats and investigate what's really going on out there.
* Though, in my research, I have found that some classes do make a clear distinction between science and pseudoscience (whew).
References: http://freeinquiry.com/intro_to_sci.html , http://science.howstuffworks.com/scientific-method.htm , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience
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