Defining Science in Light of "Feng Shui and the Demarcation Project"

Some time ago, I read the paper Feng Shui and the Demarcation Project, by Damian Fernandez-Beanato, and sent it to my friend Ruan Comelli. I told him that I can distinguish science from pseudo-science, but even after earning a Bachelor's and a Master's degree, I still struggle to argue convincingly about what is—and what is not—science. I do think I am not alone!

Ruan asked me to share my thoughts on the paper and suggested I write a blog post instead of texting him. It turns out I had many things to talk about, so I divided this post into three parts, and this is one of them.

The Problem

Everyone seems to recognize the importance of science, but what exactly is it? We learn at school that scientific disciplines are the ones that apply the scientific method:

make a hypothesis;
design an experiment to test the hypothesis;
carry out the experiment;
analyze the results;
repeat until you are satisfied.

This is a simple and uncomplicated way of presenting science to the general public. But is it really that simple? Well, Fernandez-Beanato (2021) has a bit more to say on that:

Science is a complex phenomenon composed of many epistemically relevant "dimensions", facets or aspects: it includes methodic, propositional, pragmatical, psychological, attitudinal, social, axiological, institutional, and other types of epistemically relevant components.

The problem is then: what is science?

The Solution

You may be wondering: does the answer involve knowing all those "relevant dimensions, facets, and aspects"? Fernandez-Beanato (2021) argues that yes, it does. So their answer is a list of all those aspects.

If you are methodical like me, you will love this approach: you take the discipline you want to analyze and go through the list point by point. You will be delighted to learn that their list has 217 properties. That is not all! Most of them are unnecessary and insufficient to decide whether the discipline is a science. So, by the end of the 217 items, you will realize that things are just getting started. You then have to compare your analysis with those of other "reference" disciplines (known science, pseudo-science, and non-science). Hopefully, you will realize that the discipline you are analysing either has many characteristics of a science or way too few of them, at which point you will be able to decide whether it is a science or not.

I know, I know, it sounds overwhelming and complex... Don't worry, it really is! Though that is what philosophers and scientists do all the time (albeit they often argue using only a subset of the 217 items).

The Complex Solution is a Good Thing

You may think that having a list of 217 properties is awfully long. However, science, as a human creation and practice, is complex. You can simplify it, but then you lose valuable information. Don't you want to see it in all its complexity?

Let us pause for a second and discuss something similar. Imagine you met a new person. How long does it take for you to "know them"? I don't think you can "simplify things" and know the person "in a few minutes". Besides, what is the fun of that?! People are complex: they have a history, social and cultural context, feelings, and perceptions. Those dimensions, facets, and aspects make them who they are, and the path to better understanding someone is to go through it all. Yes, it is complicated, but that is where the beauty of the process is.

Fortunately, science is not like people. People are complicated, science is merely complex.

Complex (antonym: simple): composed of many components (Borror0, 2011).

Complicated (antonym: uncomplicated): difficult to analyze, understand, explain (Merriam-Webster, 2025).

The list of Fernandez-Beanato (2021) is complex because it has many items. However, it is uncomplicated: you use the items in the list to analyze a discipline, and each of them is easy to understand and explain.

Conclusion

I find Fernandez-Beanato's proposal for defining science insightful. It may seem overwhelming at first, but when you read through the paper, you realize how powerful it is to have such an in-depth understanding of science. The list is long, and that is its strength: it gives you so many different aspects to analyze in a discipline. It is a mental tool we can use to evaluate the theories we encounter in our day-to-day lives.

References