Essay On Demarcation

We have seen many observations and theories that are labeled as scientific; we have also seen many ideas or hypothesis as being described as non scientific. We need to compare and contrast about the differences between something that is science and non science. Scientists describe non science as pseudo-scientific. This is where demarcation comes in to play as a role. Demarcation is when we distinguish between science and pseudo-science. There is a slight problem when using demarcation; There are two famous philosophers that we discuss about the problems of demarcation: Karl Popper and Paul Thagard. Karl Popper’s view on demarcating science and pseudo-scientific is using the “empirical inductive method, which is essentially inductive, proceeding …show more content…
The “criterion of demarcation- the criterion of testability, or falsifiability, or refutability- is far from obvious; for even now its significance is seldom realized” (Popper, 39). For Paul Thagard’s view problem on demarcating science is that “it introduces social and historical features as well as logical ones…the criterion is not based on verification and falsification” (Thagard, 223). The demarcation criteria of astrology have three key ideas: “theory, community, and historical context” (Thagard, 227). He believes that astrology is a pseudoscience because “astrology is dramatically unprogressive which has nothing to do with explanatory power, the precision of astrology of equinoxes are outstanding, there are alternative theories of personality and behavior available, and astrologers is not concerned with outstanding problem or evaluating theory to others” (Thagard, 228). This matters because we need to know how can we determine if theories or observations are tested to become falsifiable or