Scientific Demarcation—On the Distinction Between Science, Non-Science, and Pseudoscience

Author: Chen Jian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-06-01
Features: Scientific demarcation is undoubtedly one of the most important issues in the philosophy of science. Every philosopher of science, whether they support demarcation or advocate its dissolution, must propose their own scientific worldview. The Catholic Church's suppression of the Copernican theory, the Soviet Union's rejection of Morgan's genetic theory, and the infamous "Lysenko affair," as well as China's decade-long criticism of Einstein's theory of relativity during the Cultural Revolution—all paid a heavy price for some unjust "demarcation criteria." Although many renowned philosophers of science have discussed scientific demarcation, there is currently no dedicated work on the subject either domestically or internationally. This book aims to fill this gap by proposing a scientific worldview based on "heterogeneous epistemology" and a "fuzzy demarcation model" derived from this epistemology. The prototype of this model is the author's doctoral dissertation.