Demarcation and Scientific Method
This area asks what distinguishes science from non-science and pseudoscience, and what (if anything) constitutes a distinctive scientific method.
Definition
Demarcation is the problem of formulating a criterion that separates genuine science from pseudoscience and non-science; scientific method is the set of procedures — observation, hypothesis formation, testing, and inference — taken to characterize scientific inquiry.
Scope
It covers the demarcation problem, Popper's falsificationism, accounts of scientific method from inductivism through hypothetico-deductivism, Lakatos's methodology of research programmes, Kuhn's paradigm-based normal science, and Feyerabend's methodological anarchism. It addresses whether there is a single method of science and how method bears on demarcation.
Sub-topics
Core questions
- Is there a criterion that reliably separates science from pseudoscience?
- Is falsifiability necessary or sufficient for a theory to be scientific?
- Is there a single, universal scientific method?
- How do communities and paradigms shape what counts as good method?
Key concepts
- demarcation criterion
- falsifiability
- hypothetico-deductive method
- research programme
- paradigm
- ad hoc hypotheses
Key theories
- Falsificationism
- Popper proposes falsifiability as the criterion of demarcation and holds that science advances by bold conjectures exposed to severe attempts at refutation.
- Methodology of scientific research programmes
- Lakatos appraises sequences of theories sharing a hard core and protective belt as progressive or degenerating, refining naive falsificationism.
- Paradigms and normal science
- Kuhn describes method as governed by shared paradigms during normal science, with crises prompting revolutionary change.
- Methodological anarchism
- Feyerabend argues that no fixed methodological rules hold universally and that 'anything goes' as a description of scientific practice.
History
Popper proposed falsifiability as a demarcation criterion in the 1930s–60s against the verificationism of the Vienna Circle. Kuhn's 1962 account of paradigms, Lakatos's 1970 research-programme methodology, and Feyerabend's 1975 anarchism complicated the idea of a single rule-governed method, and the demarcation problem remains contested.
Debates
- Is falsifiability the mark of science?
- Popper holds falsifiability demarcates science, while Kuhn and Lakatos object that scientists routinely protect theories from falsification and appraise whole programmes rather than single conjectures.
- Is there a single scientific method?
- Against rule-based methodologies, Feyerabend argues that scientific progress has often required violating accepted methodological rules, so no universal method exists.
Key figures
- Karl Popper
- Imre Lakatos
- Thomas Kuhn
- Paul Feyerabend
Related topics
Seminal works
- popper1959
- kuhn1962
- lakatos1970
- feyerabend1975
Frequently asked questions
- Why is the demarcation problem important?
- Drawing a defensible line between science and pseudoscience matters for science education, public policy, and the courts, where decisions about what counts as science can have practical and legal consequences, even though philosophers disagree about whether a sharp criterion exists.