Directory:Jon Awbrey/ABC
J-ology
B-ism and C-ism reject J-ology as a pseudoscience.
D-ism maintains that J-ology misconceives X.
This statement is criticizable on the grounds that it uses anthropomorphisms (A-isms) in the manner of weasel wording to insinuate generalizations that are not grounded in any source.
JA: The statement as a whole conjoins three assertions, to wit:
- B-ism rejects J-ology as a pseudoscience.
- C-ism rejects J-ology as a pseudoscience.
- D-ism maintains that J-ology misconceives X.
JA: Problem 1. Each of the three claims has the form of an A-ism, in other words, their subjects are not the grammatical sorty of nouns that are subcategorized to take verbs like "rejects" or "maintains".
JA: Problem 2. The grammatical problem would normally be solved by rephrasing. Most likely, a person who says "B-ism rejects J-ology" means to say that the overwhelming majority of B-ists reject J-ology, or that there is a tenet of B-ism whose acceptance defines what it means to be a B-ist, which contradicts a fundamental principle of J-ology. However, in each of these cases, the A-ism is used to cover an extremely broad generalization, as if to claim that all B-ists share a tenet that contradicts a tenet that all J-ologists share, and respectively for C-ists and D-ists.
JA: Problem 3. More signficantly with respect to the WikiPedia policy of WP:VERIFY, none of the above claims is sourced. The effect of the A-ism is to make them sound sourced, to make a pretense of sourcing them, and thus to finesse the freedom of the reader to "consider the source". At any rate, WP:VERIFY states that the burden of proof is on the editor who makes the claim or who desires to keep it in the article, not on anyone else to provide contrary evidence.
JA: Problem 4. The fact that, say, some B-ists reject some of the tenets of some J-ologists still does not mean that those B-ists reject J-ology "as a pseudoscience". All sorts of folks reject each others axioms and maxims without necessarily calling each other pseudo-anything. If the statements above appear to imply that B-ists, C-ists, and D-ists present a united front against J-ology, then it's necessary to observe the fact that they don't really say that. It may happen that they reject some of each others' principles as well, all without needing to raise the charge of pseudoscience.
Ockham's Taser
The criteria for a system of assumptions, methods, and theories to qualify as science vary in their details from application to application, but they typically include (1) the formulation of hypotheses that meet the logical criterion of contingency, defeasibility, or falsifiability and the closely related empirical and practical criterion of testability, (2) a grounding in empirical evidence, and (3) the use of scientific method. The procedures of science typically include a number of heuristic guidelines, such as the principles of conceptual economy or parsimony that fall under the rubric of Occam's Razor. A conceptual system that fails to meet a significant number of these criteria is likely to be considered "nonscience", and if its exponents further claim the status of science for it, then they risk the charge of "erroneous regard" that would make that conceptual system a "pseudoscience".
