Talk:List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

Deleted Section on EMDR as pseudoscience.
I deleted the section on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. The section was written with very old sources. EMDR now has good empirical support and an impressive research base from the APA and Cleveland Clinic and is a notable treatment for PTSD.

https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/eye-movement-reprocessing

[https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22641-emdr-therapy#:~:text=Eye%20movement%20desensitization%20and%20reprocessing%20(EMDR)%20therapy%20is%20a%20mental,or%20other%20distressing%20life%20experiences. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22641-emdr-therapy#:~:text=Eye%20movement%20desensitization%20and%20reprocessing%20(EMDR)%20therapy%20is%20a%20mental,or%20other%20distressing%20life%20experiences.] Malfesto (talk) 19:40, 3 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Reverted this since its better to bring this up in talk first. This entry literally has a section called "Pseudoscience", so it meets the criteria for this list. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 19:49, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Falsifiability in lead
We need a statement about this in the lead. Let's try to formulate something. Here are a few thoughts to work with (and correct if necessary):


 * If a claim is not falsifiable, it is not a pseudoscientific claim. All scientific claims are falsifiable, and if a belief makes no falsifiable claims, in other words no claim to be scientific, it is not pseudoscientific, but may be classed as a religious belief. The moment a religion makes falsifiable claims, those claims are subject to examination and, if they are falsified, they are then classed as pseudoscientific claims, and many pseudoscientific claims have been falsified.

Valjean (talk) ( PING me ) 16:23, 17 March 2024 (UTC)


 * The lead word "pseudoscience" takes the reader to the definition. Do we need to duplicate part of another article here? Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 20:42, 17 March 2024 (UTC)
 * You have a point. This isn't the main article. I just thought a mention would be appropriate here, but maybe not. -- Valjean (talk) ( PING me ) 16:12, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

History
The impact of pseudoscientific ideas 41.115.108.76 (talk) 16:27, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes, that's a legitimate topic. Have you checked the History of pseudoscience article? That's where we cover that topic. This is just a list article. -- Valjean (talk) ( PING me ) 17:12, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

Popper's views on historical materialism
I wonder if the mention of Popper's views having been criticized is unwarranted. Almost all of these things being classified as pseudoscience are criticized by their proponents, and it'd be one thing if scientific publications were publishing these complaints, but it's entirely philosophy outlets or an "in-universe" so to speak communist journal. I'm going to remove them because as detailed in WP:FRINGE those aren't really the sources Wikipedia should be using on if something is considered pseudoscientific or not. XeCyranium (talk) 03:37, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 31 May 2024
Lunar effect on humans anb living beings have several scientific studies to avail, it makes no sense to mark it as pseudoscience would be like tampering science itself 2806:106E:1C:3032:940D:9B46:3679:2CC6 (talk) 16:28, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Happy Editing-- IAm Chaos  18:57, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I think what the editor is trying to say is that there is some evidence that some human behavior is affected by the lunar cycle e.g. increased epileptic episodes, motorcycle accidents, and sleep disorders. (per the Lunar effect article.)
 * Of course that doesn't mean there's not a whole bunch of pseudoscience attached to the topic so simply removing the entry would seem to be an overreaction. Perhaps we could be more circumspect in our synopsis, something similar to the wording at the List of common misconceptions:
 * The phase of the Moon does not influence fertility, cause a fluctuation in crime, or affect the stock market. There is no correlation between the lunar cycle and human biology or behavior. However, the increased amount of illumination during the full moon may account for increased epileptic episodes, motorcycle accidents, or sleep disorders.
 * Mr. Swordfish (talk) 20:04, 31 May 2024 (UTC)