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__NOTOC__ In the
philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
, there are several definitions of protoscience. Its simplest meaning (most closely reflecting its roots of ''
proto- Proto or PROTO may refer to: Language * Proto-, an English prefix meaning "first" Media * ''Proto'' (magazine), an American science magazine *Radio Proto in Cyprus Music * ''Proto'' (Holly Herndon album), 2019 * ''Proto'' (Leo O'Kelly ...
'' + ''
science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...
'') involves the earliest eras of the
history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...
, when the
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 scientifi ...
was still nascent. The term can also be applied to modern emerging fields of study.


Prescientific protoscience

The term ''prescientific'' means at root "relating to an era before science existed". For example,
traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
existed for thousands of years before medical science did, and thus many aspects of it can be described as prescientific. In a related sense, protoscientific topics (such as the alchemy of Newton's day) can be called prescientific, in which case the ''proto-'' and ''pre-'' labels can function more or less
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...
ously (the latter focusing more sharply on the idea that nothing but science is science). Compared to
fringe science Fringe science refers to ideas whose attributes include being highly speculative or relying on premises already refuted. Fringe science theories are often advanced by persons who have no traditional academic science background, or by researchers ...
, which is considered highly speculative or even strongly refuted, some protosciences go on to become accepted parts of
mainstream science The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many " sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are al ...
. The historical basis of much of modern chemistry is based on the discoveries of
alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim wo ...
, a proto-chemistry using some of the modern techniques and processes of modern proven chemistry.


Modern protoscience

Another meaning extends this idea into the present, with protoscience being an emerging field of study which is still not completely scientific, but later becomes a proper science.
pdf copy
Bunge defines protosciences as "emerging sciences" which "advance and end up by becoming sciences". (p.44)
Philosopher of chemistry Jaap Brakel defines it as "the study of ''
normative Normative generally means relating to an evaluative standard. Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A norm in ...
'' criteria for the use of experimental technology in science." An example of it is the
general theory of relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric scientific theory, theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current descr ...
, which started as a protoscience (a
theoretical A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...
work which had not been tested), but later was experimentally verified and became fully scientific. Protoscience in this sense is distinguished from
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 unfalsifiable claim ...
by a genuine willingness to be changed through new
evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...
, as opposed to having a theory that can be used to rationalize a predetermined belief (i.e.,
confirmation bias Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...
)
Thomas Kuhn Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American philosopher of science whose 1962 book '' The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term ''paradig ...
said that protosciences "generate
testable Testability is a primary aspect of Science and the Scientific Method and is a property applying to an empirical hypothesis, involves two components: #Falsifiability or defeasibility, which means that counterexamples to the hypothesis are logicall ...
conclusions but ... nevertheless resemble
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
and
the arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
rather than the established sciences in their developmental patterns. I think, for example, of fields like
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...
and
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describe ...
before the mid-18th century, of the study of
heredity Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic informa ...
and
phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological s ...
before the mid-nineteenth, or of many of the
social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...
today." While noting that they meet the demarcation criteria of
falsifiability Falsifiability is a standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses that was introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book '' The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). He proposed it as the cornerstone of a s ...
from Popper, he questions whether the discussion in protoscience fields "result in clear-cut progress". Kuhn concluded that protosciences, "like the arts and philosophy, lack some element which, in the mature sciences, permits the more obvious forms of progress. It is not, however, anything that a methodological prescription can provide. ... I claim no therapy to assist the transformation of a proto-science to a science, nor do I suppose anything of this sort is to be had".


See also

*
History of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...
*
Hypothesis A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...
*
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 unfalsifiable claim ...
*
Methodical culturalism Methodical culturalism is a philosophical approach developed by Peter Janich and his pupils. Its core statement is that science is not developed from purely theoretical considerations, but as a development of everyday, proto-scientific human behav ...
*
Natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science. From the ancien ...
* Obsolete scientific theories *
Pathological science Pathological science is an area of research where "people are tricked into false results ... by subjective effects, wishful thinking or threshold interactions."Irving Langmuir, "Colloquium on Pathological Science," held at the Knolls Research Lab ...


References


Further reading

{{Wiktionary, protoscience *J.A. Campbell, ''On artificial intelligence''. Artificial Intelligence Review, 1986. *D. Hartmann, ''Protoscience and Reconstruction''. Journal of General Philosophy of Science, 1996. *H. Holcomb, ''Moving Beyond Just-So Stories: Evolutionary Psychology as Protoscience''. Skeptic Magazine, 1996. *G. Kennedy, ''Psychoanalysis: Protoscience and Metapsychology''. 1959. *A.C. Maffei, ''Psychoanalysis: Protoscience or Science?'' 1969. *N. Psarros, ''The Constructive Approach to the Philosophy of Chemistry''. Epistemologia, 1995. *R. Tuomela, ''Science, Protoscience and Pseudoscience''. In Joseph C. Pitt, Marcello Pera (eds.), ''Rational Changes in Science: Essays on Scientific Reasoning'', Dordrecht, Reidel, 1987.


External links


Questions to help distinguish a pseudoscience from a protoscience (a new science trying to establish its legitimacy)
Adapted from "BCS Debates a Qi Gong Master", ''Rational Enquirer'', Vol. 6, No. 4, April 94 History of science Scientific method