Editing Pseudoscience (section)

==History==
{{main|History of pseudoscience}}
[[File:Venice ast sm.jpg|thumb|The astrological signs of the zodiac]]
The history of pseudoscience is the study of pseudoscientific theories over time. A pseudoscience is a set of ideas that presents itself as science, while it does not meet the criteria to be properly called such.<ref name="G0Dqe">{{cite book|quote=Pseudoscientific – pretending to be scientific, falsely represented as being scientific|chapter=Pseudoscientific|title=Oxford American Dictionary|publisher=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]}}</ref><ref name="ySdig">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://skepdic.com/pseudosc.html|title=The Skeptic's Dictionary|chapter=Pseudoscience|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201091026/http://www.skepdic.com/pseudosc.html|archive-date=1 February 2009}}</ref>

Distinguishing between proper science and pseudoscience is sometimes difficult.<ref name="rpjTm">Kåre Letrud, "The Gordian Knot of Demarcation: Tying Up Some Loose Ends" ''International Studies in the Philosophy of Science'' 32 (1):3–11 (2019)</ref> One proposal for demarcation between the two is the falsification criterion, attributed most notably to the philosopher [[Karl Popper]].<ref name="bRxUN">{{Cite book|title=Conjectures and refutations : the growth of scientific knowledge|last=Popper|first=Karl R. (Karl Raimund)|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-28593-3|location=London|pages=33–39|oclc=49593492}}</ref> In the [[history of science]] and the [[history of pseudoscience]] it can be especially difficult to separate the two, because some sciences developed from pseudosciences. An example of this transformation is the science of [[chemistry]], which traces its origins to the pseudoscientific or [[Prescientific|pre-scientific]] study of [[alchemy]].

The vast diversity in pseudosciences further complicates the history of science. Some modern pseudosciences, such as [[astrology]] and [[acupuncture]], originated before the scientific era. Others developed as part of an ideology, such as [[Lysenkoism]], or as a response to perceived threats to an ideology. Examples of this ideological process are [[creation science]] and [[intelligent design]], which were developed in response to the scientific theory of [[evolution]].<ref name="GMUjf">{{cite journal|vauthors=Greener M|title=Taking on creationism. Which arguments and evidence counter pseudoscience?|journal=EMBO Reports|volume=8|issue=12|pages=1107–09|year=2007|pmid=18059309|pmc=2267227|doi=10.1038/sj.embor.7401131}}</ref>