stevertigo wrote:
-- David Gerard fun@thingy.apana.org.au wrote:
So what term do you suggest for the thing that is currently usefully described by the word "pseudoscience"?
I dunno- "quasiscientific," maybe. Because 'pseudo' carries a prejudicial connotation of 'falseness,' while 'quasi' carries a perhaps more accurate connotation of "almost" or "partly" being something; in this case, as something being based in science.
Original research. Is there a current word that means the same thing?
The term "pseudoscientific," to be fair, seems like a natural one to use in cases where non-scientific claims are asserted as if there was established scientific proof. Its probably more accurate to just call certain specific outlandish claims as plain scientific 'fraud,' though my guess would be that that would probably be considered POV. 'Pseudoscience' is not much different than calling something 'fraud,' though 'fraud' seems to imply deliberate deception rather than an honest claim, written in religionese, and borne of intellectual confusion (SPOV) or 'ecstatic inspiration' (RPOV).
It sounds like you don't like that some of the things so described are associated with others of the things so described.
- d.