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In the philosophy of science, the term
protoscience is used to describe a new area of scientific endeavor
in the process of becoming established. Sometimes scientific
skeptics refer to these endeavors as "pathological
sciences".
While protoscience is often speculative, it is to be distinguished from pseudoscience by its adherence to the scientific
method and standard practices of good science, most notably a willingness to be disproven by new evidence (if and when it
appears), or supplanted by a more-predictive theory.
Fields such as astrology and alchemy prior to the invention of the scientific
method can also be regarded as protosciences. With the advent of the scientific method, they rapidly produced the scientific
fields of astronomy and chemistry
respectively, leaving those who refused to adopt the scientific method to practice pseudoscience. Several sciences started as
branches of Philosophy: Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Economics, Psychology, Sociology.
Most typically a protoscientific field is one where the hypothesis presented is in accordance with the known evidence at that
time, and a body of associated predictions have been made, but the predictions have not yet been tested (or cannot be tested, due
to current technological limitations).
Some protosciences go on to become an accepted part of mainstream science. Others fail to become established, or become
pseudoscientific, as their followers persist in the face of lack of scientific evidence for their views.
Examples of protosciences
Main article: List of protosciences
The most famous modern example of protosciences might be the theory of continental drift as originally proposed by Alfred
Wegener (which eventually became an accepted scientific model when the mechanisms of plate tectonics became understood). Other examples include:
Such fields as acupuncture and lucid dreaming can also be categorized as protosciences, pending more evidence and theoretical
underpinning.
Other fields, like parapsychology are nearer the boundary between
protoscience and pseudoscience.
See also
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