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Do we Know it When we See it? A Review of ‘Pseudoscience’ Patterns of Usage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2022

Kåre Letrud Open the ORCID record for Kåre Letrud [Opens in a new window]
Kåre Letrud*
Affiliation:
Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
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Email: kare.letrud@inn.no
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Abstract

Definitions of ‘pseudoscience’ are required to heed the established usage of the definiendum by subsuming those cases that are generally considered to be pseudoscientific, and by excluding those that are considered sciences. In this paper I sample the published record to assess the consensus on pseudoscience case classifications. The review finds inconclusive evidence for an overall agreement. However, the frequent usage of a small number of pseudoscience-cases indicates that these are considered paradigms of pseudoscience. I briefly discuss some practical implications of these findings for the pseudoscience demarcation project.

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Episteme , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , June 2023 , pp. 479 - 496
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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