Paul Thagard > Quotes

“In conclusion, I would like to say why I think the question of what constitutes a pseudoscience is important. Unlike the logical positivists, I am not grinding an anti-metaphysical ax, and unlike Popper, I am not grinding an anti-Freudian or anti-Marxian one. My concern is social: society faces the twin problems of lack of public concern with the advancement of science, and lack of public concern with the important ethical issues now arising in science and technology ... One reason for this dual lack of concern is the wide popularity of pseudoscience and the occult among the general public. Elucidation of how science differs from pseudoscience is the philosophical side of an attempt to overcome public neglect of genuine science.”
― Paul Thagard

“Disinformation is misinformation that is spread deliberately by people who know it is false. Disinformation consists of intentional lies, whereas misinformation can be unwittingly spread by people who actually believe it. Former president Barack Obama has described disinformation as “the single biggest threat to our democracy.”
― Paul Thagard, Falsehoods Fly: Why Misinformation Spreads and How to Stop It

“Perception is generally a good source of real information because it results from interactions between bodily senses and the world. But perception can go wrong in three different ways: mistakes, illusions, and hallucinations.”
― Paul Thagard, Falsehoods Fly: Why Misinformation Spreads and How to Stop It

“Misinformation promotes wars based on lies concerning the perceived enemy.”
― Paul Thagard, Falsehoods Fly: Why Misinformation Spreads and How to Stop It

“The question about comparing the success of a theory with that of other theories introduces the third element of the matrix, historical context; The historical work of Kuhn and others has shown that in general a theory is rejected only when (1) it has faced anomalies over a long period of time and (2) it has been challenged by another theory. Hence under the heading of historical context we must consider two factors relevant to demarcation: the record of a theory over time in explaining new facts and dealing with anomalies, and the availability of alternative theories.
We can now propose the following principle of demarcation:
A theory or discipline which purports to be scientific is pseudoscientific if and only if:
1. it has been less progressive than alternative theories over a long period of time, and faces many unsolved problems; but
2. the community of practitioners makes litde attempt to develop the theory towards solutions of the problems, shows no concern for attempts to evaluate the theory in relation to others, and is selective in considering confirmations and disconfirmations.
Progressiveness is a matter of the success of the theory in adding to its set of facts explained and problems solved.”
― Paul Thagard