Belief, Superstition, and Pseudoscience Are Three Different Things, but They Are Often Lumped Together
Folk belief, harmful superstition and pseudoscience differ in nature. Definitions and examples show how to tell cultural faith from fraud.
Results for "pseudoscience"
What is pseudoscience, and why is drawing the line between science and pseudoscience far harder than it looks
What is pseudoscience? A look at the definition, Popper's demarcation criterion, critiques from Duhem, Quine and Kuhn, and the practical stakes involved.
How to recognize a pseudoscientific advertisement: the criteria of philosophy of science, applied to 'energy', 'vibration', 'quantum'
No single test identifies pseudoscience. Philosophy of science uses a cluster of criteria, applied here to 'energy', 'vibration' and 'quantum'.
Strategy and Authority in Human Design: How the System Tells You to Decide, and How Far to Take It
Strategy and Authority are Human Design's two decision-making pillars. This analysis covers how they work by type and their limits as guides.
What Is Human Design: Its 1987 Origin, Bodygraph Structure, and What the System Cannot Prove
Human Design is a self-knowledge system from 1987 combining astrology, the I Ching, Kabbalah and chakras. It covers the bodygraph and its limits.
Karl Popper's Falsifiability: A Conjecture That Cannot Be Wrong Says Nothing
Falsifiability is Karl Popper's test: a theory is scientific only if observation could contradict it. He used astrology as a system that cannot be wrong.
Critical Thinking Before a Claim: Five Questions to Ask and the Most Common Logical Fallacies
Before a claim, split it into statement, reason, and evidence, then ask five questions. Common errors include confirmation bias and sunk cost.
Saying you don't believe yet still observing taboos: why 'abstaining brings good fortune' persists even among the highly educated
Many people know a taboo has no scientific basis yet still follow it. Psychology calls this acquiescence, a mechanism that reconciles intuition and reason.
How Human Design, MBTI and Numerology Differ, and Why They Are Often Sold as a Bundle
Human Design, MBTI and numerology differ in origin and method, yet they are often bundled because all three promise to answer the same question: who am I?
Meaning of Number 3 in Eastern Numerology
Number 3 in Eastern numerology stands for growth, creativity and the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth and Human, with energy that can scatter without focus.
When a tarot reading 'works': the cards or the sitter's belief? What the research says
Two small studies disagree on whether paranormal belief makes sitters rate a tarot reading as more accurate. The evidence stays thin and unreplicated.
Eastern Numerology: How to Calculate and the Meaning of Numbers
Eastern numerology uses Yin-Yang and Five Elements ideas, with numbers 1 through 9 each holding an element. See how birth dates are reduced and read.
What Is Qi in Feng Shui: Sheng Qi, Si Qi, and the Zangshu Line 'Qi Rides the Wind and Scatters, Is Bounded by Water and Stops'
Qi in feng shui is the invisible flow the Zangshu describes as scattering in wind and stopping at water. It covers sheng qi, si qi, cang feng, and de shui.
Is Astrology Science or Superstition: The Wrong Question, and the Question Worth Asking Instead
Astrology is not science in the modern empirical sense, yet calling it pure superstition ignores its roots in Yin-Yang, the Five Elements and the I Ching.
Are Psychics Real? How Anomalistic Psychology Explains the "Sixth Sense" Experience
Controlled tests have not shown psychic ability. Anomalistic psychology links "sixth sense" experiences to misattribution and subjective validation.