pseudoscience

A branch of science without an existing subject.

People engaged in either branch of pseudoscience claim it to be science, either from delusion, ignorance or greed (or all of it). Pseudoscience is invoked in explanations for paranormal phenomenons but not limited to.

Pseudoscience fails to fulfill the definition of science, e.g falsifiability, inconsistance and contradiction of existing knowledge, inabillity to make presumption based on observations or just making a testable hypothesis to an observed phenomenon.

Related to junk scince.

1. Theology - literary, the science of god
2. Intelligent Design - uses "Desinger did it" as a stand-in for argument ad ignorantiam on the science of evolution.
3. Most of the New Age concepts are pseudoscience, such as...
4. Homeopathy - contradicts most of molecular and medical science

by Tongaro September 6, 2009

Pseudoscience

Noun - The process by which my grandmother reasons to her conclusion that Earth was created 6,000 years ago with fully evolved organisms.

Dude 1: Bro, this study says that using cell phones causes cancer.
Dude 2: (peruses study design and results) Looks like pseudoscience to me.
Dude 1: But it’s true because I’m afraid that it’s true.
Dude 2: Well, I’m afraid that it’s not true.

by True_Lust July 21, 2019

Pseudoscience

A propaganda word used to discredit anything that THEY don't want you to know.

Many celebrities say how the Law of Attraction changed their lives and helped get them what they want.
- but it's just stupid pseudoscience, even BBC news said that!

by t00c00lforscho00l April 10, 2022

Pseudoscience

Formerly a descriptor for practices claiming to be scientific with no evidence in favor of the practice, the term "Pseudoscience" has unfortunately devolved into a catch-all pejorative term for anything that doesn't align with the majority opinion of self-proclaimed "intellectuals" who will create 1500+ word essays on why you're wrong and why you should "TRUST THE SCIENCE". Because of the modern redefinition of the term, several harmless beliefs and hobbies (eg. Cryptozoology, Astrology, Ufology) have been lumped into the same category as absolutely braindead theories that even fetuses would be able to identify as bullshit (eg. Flat earth), or genuinely dangerous beliefs and practices (eg. Horse Dewormer and Bleach as "cures" for COVID and other related quackery). Science actually sometimes relies on "Pseudoscientific" practices to make new breakthroughs. For example, Plate tectonics used to be given no credibility, but are now generally accepted.

The term is now systemically abused heavily on Wikipedia due to said site's high reliance on secondary sources. Said secondary sources (mostly editorials on popular news magazine websites) heavily abuse the term "pseudoscience", especially when talking about those who are politically right-wing (while ignoring left-wing pseudoscientific, or at least denialist movements such as the anti-GMO or anti-nuclear energy movements).

Person 1: Hey, check out this cool cryptid book i got!
Person 2: Aww sweet! My favorite is the Bunyip, i wonder what it'll look li-
"Expert": ACKSHUALLY CRYPTOZOOLOGY IS PSEUDOSCIENCE AND IF YOU FOLLOW IT YOU ARE A RIGHT WING ANTI-MASK NAZI WHO THINKS THE EARTH IS FLAT
Persons 1 and 2: Dude wtf

by PNurBH June 6, 2023

Pseudoscience

A science that doesn't pretend to be fact or accurate (like real science), where someone could say just about anything and people would still think it sounded good, kind of like religion.

People like astrology for the same reason they like religion, it's bullshit that sounds good (and doesn't have to come with a bunch of numbers that sound accurate like science or math). Calling it a pseudoscience is deceptive because it makes all other sciences sound responsible, true, and real when scientists are really the least socially responsible people, just like astrologers, except scientists are worse because people take their information as fact and not misinformation.

by The Original Agahnim November 13, 2021

Pseudoscience Problem

The pseudoscience problem is a logical and pragmatic problem that understands the category of "pseudoscience" as a vague and bad category for analisys, since it can have a confuse using and even having inconsistent using majority of times, such as the neoatheist and materialist use of the term "pseudoscience" that might refer to everything that is not scientific and even to religious, spiritual, occult, supernatural, philosophical, cultural, social, political and economical themes.

"The pseudoscience problem shows how pseudoscience concept might be really inconsistent and problematic sometimes, mainly when used by neoatheists and materialists... We might need get into a new classification for scientific and non-scientific categories and even, maybe, counter neoatheism and materialism inside science, for avoid problems such as the pseudoscience problem."

"The pseudoscience problem is a good way to understand why we should be pragmatic and relativist inside scientific and non-scientific issues, mainly if it is about evidences, since we have evidences of all kinds, not just scientific evidences, it is even useful for show the cult to scientific/objective evidences might be countered inside science and the formulation of new ways to search for evidences and even adopt epistemological anarchism for openly scientific and non-scientific themes, since the scientific method might have its own problems such as pseudoscience concept."

by Full Monteirism January 6, 2021

Pseudoscience Equals False Fallacy

The blanket assertion that any claim labeled "pseudoscience" is automatically false, worthless, or beyond consideration. The fallacy lies in treating a methodological judgment (this doesn't meet scientific standards) as a truth judgment (this is false). But pseudoscience can contain true claims—astrology includes accurate psychological insights; homeopathy might include placebo effects that are real; ancient traditions often have empirical knowledge embedded in non-scientific frameworks. The label "pseudoscience" describes relationship to scientific method, not truth value. Using it as a synonym for "false" is category error dressed as critique.

Pseudoscience Equals False Fallacy "They dismissed acupuncture entirely with 'it's pseudoscience, so it's false.' That's Pseudoscience Equals False Fallacy. But acupuncture might work for some conditions, even if the traditional explanation isn't scientific. 'Pseudoscience' describes the framework, not the outcome. Truth doesn't require scientific packaging; dismissing everything in the package because the package isn't scientific is throwing out babies with bathwater."

by Dumu The Void February 28, 2026