Science and Pseudoscience

The foundation of democracy.
[...] However, the interest of lay people in the secrets of the Universe may turn towards superstition as well as science. Astrology, creationism, or conspiracy theories such as those surrounding the Moon landings can be considered as faintly amusing or harmless. Skepticism based on critical thinking is indeed healthy, but perversion of scientific understanding can make it hard for the public to distinguish between what is fact and what is fiction, and large-scale ignorance of science must be considered as dangerous. It is important that a society – and not just a select few – should be able to make informed decisions across a broad range of issues: from understanding the ways computers enter our lives, priorities for health care, judging the implications of global warming, the relative merits of fossil fuels or nuclear or wind-generated power, the case for genetically modified food, and so on.

Astronomy in society
Astronomy, as a field of science, enters our daily lives directly. This includes everyday phenomena such as the influence of the Sun and the tilt of the Earth’s axis on our seasons and climate, the influence of the Moon on the tides, and why the sky is blue but why sunsets are red. Yet ignorance of even these basic phenomena remains widespread. And while a Solar eclipse can be predicted with precision and viewed in awe as one of nature’s great spectacles, a significant fraction of the population on Earth still views an eclipse with mysticism and fear. [...]
[Science Vision, Astronet. Towards a strategic Plan for European Astronomy, 2006]


Man's respect for knowledge is one of his most peculiar characteristics. Knowledge in Latin is scientia, and science came to be the name of the most respectable kind of knowledge. But what distinguishes knowledge from superstition, ideology or pseudoscience? The Catholic Church excommunicated Copernicans, the Communist Party persecuted Mendelians on the ground that their doctrines were pseudoscientific. But then the problem of the demarcation between science and pseudoscience is not merely a problem of armchair philosophy: it is of vital social and political relevance.
[Imre Lakatos, ScienceAndPseudoscience, 30 June 1973]

[Image, Alma2007©Connie Mendoza]