What is it?
Memetics is considered a pseudoscience because it satisfies the two conditions defined by Thagard’s demarcation criteria. Firstly, there has been little progress in the field and there remains some problems. After the 1990s, memetics underwent a hiatus due to the lack of scientific progress and was considered a dead theory by many philosophers. It wasn’t until 2013 that there was a more work published on memetics, specifically the proposition of the structure of the meme. Even with this new development, memetics still hasn’t been able to answer how the meme mutates (the idea of a meme going from one brain to another). The second reason why memetics is a pseudoscience is that memeticists have made little effort to solve the theory’s multiple problems. This was largely recognized when the Journal of Memetics went out of publication in 2005 due to the lack of research being made in the field. Luis Benitez-Bribiesca, a critic of memetics, has also pointed out there is a lack of a code script for memes and the mutation mechanism of memes is too unstable.
any objections?
Memeticists would most likely oppose to these allegations for the following reason. They would argue that there has been progress in memetics and therefore is science. Even though there was a period of time when there had been no new developments, memetics still made progress during the years with new propositions. Another way for memeticists would say that memetics is a science is that they have been able to answer some of the problems with memetics and have responded to their critics. Memeticists not being able to answer some of their critics’ questions is that not enough research has been conducted in order to back their claims.
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why does it matter?Memetics is important in sociology and anthropology because, if taken seriously, it will provide an explanation as to why certain cultures spread and why others disappear. Culture varies by geography, ethinicity, and nationality. By saying that this variation is through the result of the replication of "memes" is a vary radical idea. Currently, memetics is considered a pseudoscience because of its lack of progression in new information. However, if there are any new findings made in the field that would help memetics advance, then the theory could perhaps become a real science.
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Sources:
Why Is Astrology A Pseudoscience, Paul R. Thagard, In Philosophy of Science Association 1978 Volume 1, edited by P.D. Asquith and I. Hacking (East Lansing: Philosophy of Science Association, 1978)
Why Is Astrology A Pseudoscience, Paul R. Thagard, In Philosophy of Science Association 1978 Volume 1, edited by P.D. Asquith and I. Hacking (East Lansing: Philosophy of Science Association, 1978)