Pseudoskepticism

From RationalWiki
(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
(-By woo promoters- adding some stuff and stuff)
(adding a reference)
Line 7: Line 7:
 
Consequently, these woo-promoters will try to claim the high ground by describing themselves as being "[[open mind|open-mindeded]]" in comparison to the allegedly closed-minded members of the scientific establishment who demand actual evidence before accepting the woo peddlers' pet beliefs as anything more than bogus at best.  
 
Consequently, these woo-promoters will try to claim the high ground by describing themselves as being "[[open mind|open-mindeded]]" in comparison to the allegedly closed-minded members of the scientific establishment who demand actual evidence before accepting the woo peddlers' pet beliefs as anything more than bogus at best.  
  
However, it should also be noted that real skeptics are always prepared to change their positions based on the production of real evidence, such as in the case of Einstein's Cosmological Constant - thus making the accusation of pseudoskepticism even harder to level.
+
However, it should also be noted that real skeptics are always prepared to change their positions based on the production of real evidence, such as in the case of Einstein's Cosmological Constant<ref>http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/5188</ref> - thus making the accusation of pseudoskepticism even harder to level.
  
 
==By others==
 
==By others==

Revision as of 00:06, 12 August 2009

Pseudoskepticism is used in two different ways.

Contents

By woo promoters

It is used as a loaded term by promoters of woo to dismiss skeptical criticism of their woo as unfounded. Some woo-promoters maintain that demanding evidence before belief is an extreme position, and they feel that we should all be agnostic about, well, everything until it has been positively disproved. Given the difficulty of absolutely disproving even the most absurd hypothesis they then go on to maintain that all those who ask for evidence before belief are "pseudoskeptics".

Consequently, these woo-promoters will try to claim the high ground by describing themselves as being "open-mindeded" in comparison to the allegedly closed-minded members of the scientific establishment who demand actual evidence before accepting the woo peddlers' pet beliefs as anything more than bogus at best.

However, it should also be noted that real skeptics are always prepared to change their positions based on the production of real evidence, such as in the case of Einstein's Cosmological Constant[1] - thus making the accusation of pseudoskepticism even harder to level.

By others

The description also seems to be occasionally used - and in this case correctly - to refer to those who maintain that they are skeptical of things such as the facts about global warming.[2] In this case the word is simply a synonym of denialism, as there is a vast amount of real evidence which is simply ignored by these pseudoskeptics.

External links

  • WikiSynergy, where they enjoy pretending to be the "real" skeptics, while actively engaging in promoting all forms of woo imaginable - which, somewhat ironically, would mean that the second definition of "pseudoskepticism" could be applied to them.
  • An article by "believers" on pseudoskepticism

See also

Footnotes

  1. http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/5188
  2. True pseudoskepticism
Articles on RationalWiki related to pseudo-studies
Pseudoarcheology - Pseudohistory - Pseudolaw - Pseudolinguistics - Pseudomathematics - Pseudoscience - Pseudopsychology - Pseudoscience list - Pseudoscience in advertising - Pseudoskepticism - Pseudovitamin
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support