The Philosopher Ibsy had a thought one fine GENPSYC class, which he shared with me... the thought of "pseudo-sciences," of different eras of human existence, and how Psychology could be this era's pseudo-science. He defined a pseudo-science as a science, or a basic philosophy that was mainly in use during a certain time. This definition of course is crude, because our discussion was only in passing. He gave the example of humanism in ancient Greece. All their achievements were based on humanism, a sort of homocentric view of the world led to all their achievements (Philosophies on living, and society, and artistic and intellectual achievement.) Another example he gave was that of Alchemy (or chemistry) and Mercantile. Mercantile dictated the holistic growth of society during the Industrial Revolution. We can safely connect the achievements of the Industrial Revolution as being a direct consequence of Mercantilistic ideas and theories. As for the modern age, Capitalism is the pseudo-science, as most of today's achievements are blatantly based on Capitalistic ideals. but Ibsy said we could replace the existing pseudo-science with Psychology as the new pseudo-science.
I fully agree with the division of human eras according to pseudo-sciences, as there is much evidence to support it. I do contest though, the use of the term "pseudo-science." The term literally means false sciences, as Ibsy took into thought the idea that Alchemy, Morality and Philosophy are not sciences. From what I see, the term pseudo-science doesn't fit, because of certain specific reasons, such as that Economics is a social science, and Economics dictated the pseudo-sciences of Mercantile and Capitalism. Another point is that Imperialism and Expansionism, which are two of the most influential pseudo-sciences are under Political Science. Alchemy, which he contested against it's being a science, was the direct anscestor of modern Chemistry. Chemistry brought about the study of Alchemy, and Alchemy was based on natural laws (or in trying to break them) so we can safely assume that it was somehow a science. With these in mind, I would use the term "representative ideals" instead of the term pseudo-science. I use the term representative ideals because it involves all the aspects of the "Pseudo-sciences." The word Ideals take into spect Philosophies, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Moral Ideals. The word representative gives the term it's essence of dividing human eras by the Ideals of which were most used, or brought the most change. So lets wrap up this chapter with a definition:
Representative Ideals: Ideas, Sciences, or Philosophies that were most used or brought about the most change in human society, and which define a certain era in human existence.
Next Chapter:
Representative Ideals Part II: Eras of Human Existence according to Representative Ideals.
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