E-Book Overview
Case studies, personal accounts, and analysis show how to recognize and combat pseudoscience in a post-truth world.
In a post-truth, fake news world, we are particularly susceptible to the claims of pseudoscience. When emotions and opinions are more widely disseminated than scientific findings, and self-proclaimed experts get their expertise from Google, how can the average person distinguish real science from fake? This book examines pseudoscience from a variety of perspectives, through case studies, analysis, and personal accounts that show how to recognize pseudoscience, why it is so widely accepted, and how to advocate for real science.
Contributors examine the basics of pseudoscience, including issues of cognitive bias; the costs of pseudoscience, with accounts of naturopathy and logical fallacies in the anti-vaccination movement; perceptions of scientific soundness; the mainstream presence of “integrative medicine,” hypnosis, and parapsychology; and the use of case studies and new media in science advocacy.
Contributors
David Ball, Paul Joseph Barnett, Jeffrey Beall, Mark Benisz, Fernando Blanco, Ron Dumont, Stacy Ellenberg, Kevin M. Folta, Christopher French, Ashwin Gautam, Dennis M. Gorman, David H. Gorski, David K. Hecht, Britt Marie Hermes, Clyde F. Herreid, Jonathan Howard, Seth C. Kalichman, Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair, Arnold Kozak, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Emilio Lobato, Steven Lynn, Adam Marcus, Helena Matute, Ivan Oransky, Chad Orzel, Dorit Reiss, Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter, Kavin Senapathy, Dean Keith Simonton, Indre Viskontas, John O. Willis, Corrine Zimmerman
E-Book Content
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience The Conspiracy Against Science
Edited by Allison B. Kaufman and James C. Kaufman
The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
© 2018 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in ITC Stone Serif by Westchester Publishing Services. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kaufman, Allison (Allison B.) editor. | Kaufman, James C., editor. Title: Pseudoscience : the conspiracy against science / edited by Allison Kaufman and James C. Kaufman. Description: Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017025528 | ISBN 9780262037426 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Pseudoscience. Classification: LCC Q172.5.P77 P73 2017 | DDC 001.9—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017025528 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my parents, Jean and Joe Katz, the original scientists in my life —ABK For my parents, Drs. Alan S. and Nadeen L. Kaufman, Who nurtured in me a lifelong love of learning and science (and the arts) and taught me to question, wonder, and dream —JCK
Contents
Foreword: Navigating a Post-Truth World: Ten Enduring Lessons from the Study of Pseudoscience xi Scott O. Lilienfeld Acknowledgments xix Introduction: Pseudoscience: What It Costs and Efforts to Fight It xxi I The Basics of Pseudoscience 1 1 Pseudoscience and the Pursuit of Truth 3 David K. Hecht 2 The Psychology of (Pseudo)Science: Cognitive, Social, and Cultural F actors 21 Emilio J. C. Lobato and Corinne Zimmerman 3 The Illusion of Causality: A Cognitive Bias Underlying Pseudoscience 45 Fernando Blanco and Helena Matute 4 Hard Science, Soft Science, and Pseudoscience: Implications of Research on the Hierarchy of the Sciences 77 Dean Keith Simonton II What Pseudoscience Costs Society 101 5 Food-o-science Pseudoscience: The Weapons and Tactics in the W