List of alternative, speculative and disputed theories

This list of alternative, speculative and disputed theories includes examples of fields of endeavor that are considered to be fringe or pseudoscientific by the mainstream scientific community. Included examples range from theories considered crackpot by all but their handful of followers and ending in respectable theories that are simply the minority view. Some of these practices are often quite popular outside the scientific community.

Related Topics:
Fringe - Pseudoscientific - Mainstream - Crackpot

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Inclusion in the list is possible because that theory is:

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• Asserting claims without supporting experimental evidence;
• Asserting claims which contradict experimentally established results;
• Failing to provide an experimental possibility of reproducible results; or
• Violating Occam's Razor (the principle of choosing the simplest explanation when multiple viable explanations are possible).

Many of these theories are considered pathological science: a psychological process in which believers in a theory, who may have originally conformed to the scientific method, unconsciously veer from that method and begin a pathological process of wishful data interpretation. The term ironic science was used by John Horgan in his book The End of Science to describe a "speculative, non-empirical mode" that mainstream science sometimes enters.

Related Topics:
Pathological science - Scientific method

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Note that historically, the scientific community was less open to new ideas than today. Some currently respected theories, such as e.g. plate tectonics or the idea that stones could fall from the sky (meteorites) were rejected just because they contradicted popular belief amongst scientists, not because they were in conflict with known experimentally established results of that time. It is unlikely that this is still going on today. So, theories that are regarded as pseudoscientific today are unlikely to be rehabilitated as respected theories in the future. The reverse process happens more often. It is far more likely that a mainstream theory or hypothesis is discredited and becomes pseudoscientific in the future. Historical examples of such cases are luminiferous aether and polywater.

Related Topics:
Plate tectonics - Meteorite - Luminiferous aether - Polywater

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List of alternative, speculative and disputed theories: Theories ►