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Folk Science
Folk science describes ways of understanding and predicting the natural and social world, without the use of rigorous methodologies (see Scientific method). One could label all understanding of nature predating the Greeks as "folk science". Folk science is often accepted as "common wisdom" in a given culture, and gets passed on as memes. According to some evolutionary psychologists, it may also reflect the output of evolved cognitive processes of the human mind which have been adapted in the course of human evolution. Skeptics often investigate the influence and validity of folk science. Some examples of folk science * Folk biology * Folk history * Folk linguistics * Folk psychology * Folk taxonomy * Informal mathematics * Naïve physics * Physiognomy * Weather lore See also * Ethnobiology * Pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientific Method
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific method for additional detail.) It involves careful observation, applying rigorous skepticism about what is observed, given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation. It involves formulating hypotheses, via induction, based on such observations; the testability of hypotheses, experimental and the measurement-based statistical testing of deductions drawn from the hypotheses; and refinement (or elimination) of the hypotheses based on the experimental findings. These are ''principles'' of the scientific method, as distinguished from a definitive series of steps applicable to all scientific enterprises. Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, the underlying process is frequently the sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Psychology
In philosophy of mind and cognitive science, folk psychology, or commonsense psychology, is a human capacity to explain and predict the behavior and mental state of other people. Processes and items encountered in daily life such as pain, pleasure, excitement, and anxiety use common linguistic terms as opposed to technical or scientific jargon. Traditionally, the study of folk psychology has focused on how everyday people—those without formal training in the various academic fields of science—go about attributing mental states. This domain has primarily been centred on intentional states reflective of an individual's beliefs and desires; each described in terms of everyday language and concepts such as "beliefs", "desires", "fear", and "hope". Eliminative materialism is the claim that folk psychology is false and should be discarded (or "eliminated"). Key folk-concepts Intentionality When perceiving, explaining, or criticizing human behaviour, people distinguish between int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfalsifiable claims; reliance on confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack of openness to Peer review, evaluation by other experts; absence of systematic practices when developing Hypothesis, hypotheses; and continued adherence long after the pseudoscientific hypotheses have been experimentally discredited. The demarcation problem, demarcation between science and pseudoscience has scientific, philosophical, and political implications. Philosophers debate the nature of science and the general criteria for drawing the line between scientific theory, scientific theories and pseudoscientific beliefs, but there is general agreement on examples such as ancient astronauts, climate change denial, dowsing, evolution denial, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethnobiology
] Ethnobiology is the scientific study of the way living things are treated or used by different human cultures. It studies the dynamic relationships between people, biota, and environments, from the distant past to the immediate present.culture to the plant world"'' * in Great Britain, Britain (mid 1960s) with the publication of Claude Lévi-Strauss' book ''The Savage Mind'' legitimating "folk biological classification" as a worthy cross-cultural research endeavour * in France (mid 1970s) with André-Georges Haudricourt's linguistic studies of botanical nomenclature and R. Porteres' and others work in economic biology. Present (1980s–2000s) By the turn of the 21st century ethnobiological practices, research, and findings have had a significant impact and influence across a number of fields of biological inquiry including ecology, conservation biology, development studies, and political ecology. The Society of Ethnobiology advises on its web page: Ethnobiology is a rapidly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weather Lore
Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather and its greater meaning. Much like regular folklore, weather lore is passed down through speech and writing from normal people without the use of external measuring instruments. The origin of weather lore can be dated back to primeval men and their usage of star studying in navigation. However, more recently during the Late Middle Ages, the works of two Greek philosopher-poets, Theophrastus of Eresus on Lesbos and Aratus of Macedonia, are known for shaping the prediction of weather. Theophrastus and Aratus collated their works in two main collections for weather lore: ''On Weather Signs'' and ''On Winds.'' These were used for helping farmers with harvest, merchants for trade and determining the weather the next day. Astrology and weather lore have been closely interlinked for many years - with each planet often being associated with a weather state. For example, Mars is red and must therefore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physiognomy
Physiognomy (from the Greek , , meaning "nature", and , meaning "judge" or "interpreter") is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without reference to its implied characteristics—as in the physiognomy of an individual plant (see plant life-form) or of a plant community (see vegetation). Physiognomy as a practice meets the contemporary definition of pseudoscience and it is so regarded among academic circles because of its unsupported claims; popular belief in the practice of physiognomy is nonetheless still widespread. The practice was well-accepted by ancient Greek philosophers, but fell into disrepute in the Middle Ages while practised by vagabonds and mountebanks. It revived and was popularised by Johann Kaspar Lavater, before falling from favor in the late 19th century. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naïve Physics
Naïve physics or folk physics is the untrained human perception of basic physical phenomena. In the field of artificial intelligence the study of naïve physics is a part of the effort to formalize the common knowledge of human beings. Many ideas of folk physics are simplifications, misunderstandings, or misperceptions of well-understood phenomena, incapable of giving useful predictions of detailed experiments, or simply are contradicted by more thorough observations. They may sometimes be true, be true in certain limited cases, be true as a good first approximation to a more complex effect, or predict the same effect but misunderstand the underlying mechanism. Naïve physics can also be defined as an intuitive understanding all humans have about objects in the physical world. Certain notions of the physical world may be innate. Examples Some examples of naïve physics include commonly understood, intuitive, or everyday-observed rules of nature: * What goes up must come down * A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Informal Mathematics
Informal mathematics, also called naïve mathematics, has historically been the predominant form of mathematics at most times and in most cultures, and is the subject of modern ethno-cultural studies of mathematics. The philosopher Imre Lakatos in his ''Proofs and Refutations'' aimed to sharpen the formulation of informal mathematics, by reconstructing its role in nineteenth century mathematical debates and concept formation, opposing the predominant assumptions of mathematical formalism.Imre Lakatos, ''Proofs and Refutations'' (1976), especially the Introduction. Informality may not discern between statements given by ''inductive reasoning'' (as in approximations which are deemed "correct" merely because they are useful), and statements derived by ''deductive reasoning''. Terminology ''Informal mathematics'' means any informal mathematical practices, as used in everyday life, or by aboriginal or ancient peoples, without historical or geographical limitation. Modern mathematics, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Taxonomy
A folk taxonomy is a vernacular naming system, as distinct from scientific taxonomy. Folk biological classification is the way people traditionally describe and organize their natural surroundings/the world around them, typically making generous use of form taxa like "shrubs", " bugs", "ducks", "fish" and the like, or of economic criteria such as "game animal" or "pack animal". Folk taxonomies are generated from social knowledge and are used in everyday speech. They are distinguished from scientific taxonomies that claim to be disembedded from social relations and thus more objective and universal. Folk taxonomies exist to allow popular identification of classes of objects, and apply to all areas of human activity. All parts of the world have their own systems of naming local plants and animals. These naming systems are a vital aid to survival and include information such as the fruiting patterns of trees and the habits of large mammals. These localised naming systems are folk t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Linguistics
Folk linguistics consists of statements, beliefs, or practices concerning language which are based on uninformed speculation rather than the scientific method. Folk linguistics sometimes arises when scientific conclusions about language come off as counterintuitive to native speakers. However, folk linguistics is also often motivated by ideology and nationalism. Examples Jackendoff (2003) cites the following statements as typical examples of folk-linguistic beliefs. * Claim: "Parents teach their children to talk". Adults assume that children either learn language directly from their parents or via simple imitation. ** On the contrary, research in child language acquisition shows that a child acquires language more automatically, through a systematic pattern rarely noticed by adults. Although interaction with parents, adults and other children is crucial, it is actually very difficult to "correct" a child. Instead most children are able to learn to speak native languages (includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures. In popular language, a meme may refer to an Internet meme, typically an image, that is remixed, copied, and circulated in a shared cultural experience online. Proponents theorize that memes are a viral phenomenon that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, each of which influences a meme's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, the forms and rituals of celebrations such as Christmas and weddings, folk dances and initiation rites. Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact or traditional cultural expression. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not something one can typically gain in a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead, these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through verbal instruction or demonstr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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