The Sick Offspring of Science: Bad Science and Pseudoscience

Abstract

The problem of demarcation between science and pseudoscience, although old, it was made central to debates about the nature of science in 1962 by Karl Popper. In this current climate of the pandemic, anti-vaccine theories, and fake news, it is imperative that one distinguishes between science, bad science, and pseudoscience. In this paper I analyze and discuss a number of arguments related to this debate mainly from Sven Ove Hansson’s paper, `Science and Pseudo-Science` (2021). The Swedish thinker argues for the importance of identifying subtle differences between bad science, non-science, un-science, and pseudoscience. I claim that in this debate the starting point is a careful analysis of well-known examples. I conclude that understanding the demarcation between those domains and the unmasking of pseudoscientific theories is vital for negotiating both the social and the scientific landscape.