The Invisible Man 3

Reader boon asks on an earlier post:

Do you know if there're any organisations or societies in Singapore which promote critical thinking?

angry doc must say he doesn't, so dear readers, of you do know of any, do let him know. Not that angry doc is keen to join one; he doesn't imagine a group made up entirely of critical-thinkers or skeptics to be society for a fun and easy-going evening, you see.

angry doc is aware, however, of several critical-thinking or skeptic sites and blogs, such as Skeptico's blog which he linked to in the earlier post, Respectful Insolence, which looks at 'medicine, quackery, science, pseudoscience, history, and pseudohistory', and the UK-Skeptics, whose article on pseudoscience angry doc would like to feature today:


What is Pseudoscience?
A theory, methodology, or practise that is without scientific foundation.
Jason Braithwaite PhD, John Jackson © 2006

Pseudosciences are practises that masquerade themselves as science but have little or no scientific evidence or cohesion to support them. They claim to be factual and scientific, yet do not adhere to scientific methodology and principles; notably the scientific principle of falsifiability.

It can be difficult for the non-scientist to discern whether something being claimed as scientific actually is or not. Fortunately pseudoscience has many recognisable features that are distinct from genuine science. These features are outlined below. Whilst not every feature will be common to every form of pseudoscience, any claimed scientific practise that displays at least some of these features is increasingly likely to be pseudoscientific.


You can read the rest of the article here.