Secret Sciences

Secret Sciences

“Not every science we know is a true science; only a handful of them are”, E.S.

In this article we discuss Secret Sciences and those which people consider being secret. Majority of those sciences, usually they are just products of imagination, deals with people tendency to believe in something other people call secret or those, they claim, that could be ‘understood’ by mature adults. There are many of them that I would like to cross out from human activity, even to read about, never mind, to discuss them publicly. We will be touching the essence of those ‘sciences’ just for the sake of debunking them Below is a short list of them in alphabetical order:

1. Agnosticism –  is the truth values of certain claims are unknown
2. Alchemy– when gold as a metal can be produced from another metal
3. Alternative Medicine – is unknown methods of healing can have therapeutic effect
4. Astrology – when solar planets can be influential over people’s life
5. Chiropractic– is a manipulation of spine muscles can heal them
6. Esotericism– when processes in Universe are reflected in people’s mind
7. Homeopathy– is a therapy by small dosages
8. Kabbalah– explains the significance of Jewish religious observances
9. Metaphysics– explains the fundamental nature of being and the world
10. Psychology– is the study of mind and behavior
11. Parapsychology– is investigation of paranormal and psychic phenomena
12. Religion– is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views

Before we provide descriptions for all 12 items listed above let’s make clear the following:

• Among all 12 names listed above there is only one that includes all the others – that is Esotericism, sometimes pronounce asEsoteric.
• Some of those ‘sciences’ are still alive and they are well known in the world and heavily practiced.
• Some of them are very popular by many people and nations around the globe.
• Some of them are even taught in schools and colleges.

Many of them are still used by billions of people around the world.

All of the items listed above are pure people’s imagination one way or another.

 DESCRIPTIONS

Agnosticism 

According to Wikipedia, agnosticism is described here… In addition to this information the agnosticism is a term existing in philosophy, ideology and theology. It assumes that it is in fundamentally impossible to cognitively accept objective reality other than through the subjective experience and knowledge and within marginal and absolute basis of reality. Also agnosticism denies the opportunity to prove or disprove ideas and assertions based entirely on subjective assumptions. Sometimes agnosticism is defined as philosophy whereby the world cannot be cognitive (becomes known).

Alchemy

Alchemy in its original interpretation is the idea of transmutation of metals – converting one metal to another (mainly base metals into gold), which has become the main concern of the alchemy period. It is also defined as the art of making gold and silver and a stage of the preparation of artificial gold, as well as the prohibition of disclosure of the secrets of this art. National Geographic has a video where the secret of making gold is reviled in Paris museum. It was just a very good trick.

Alternative Medicine

Alternative Medicine is a collective term for methods of applying an ‘ability’ to treat (or prevent) disease or health deficiencies. It has not been proven to be scientific. Typical examples include homeopathy, acupuncture and naturopathy. The alternative medicine is called alternative if it is used instead of conventional medicine.

If non-traditional methods are used in conjunction with medicine, this practice is called complementary medicine. In the North America it is used the term “Complementary and Alternative Medicine” when mentioning complementary and alternative practitioners of alternative medicine.  The World Health Organization does not recommend the use of alternative medicine and is making efforts to promote evidence-based approach to assess the safety, efficacy and quality of non-traditional methods to confirm or refute the scientific method.

Astrology

Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial objects as a means for divining information about human affairs and terrestrial events, in another words, predicting the future. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person’s personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects. According to professional astrologers they rely on such systems of planet superposition and create charts to defraud the public.

Despite the large number taken in parascience attempts to give a physical basis of astrology, modern science denies the validity of the astrological techniques and qualifies astrology as a pseudoscience and prejudice. Encyclopedia Britannica refers to magic astrology and conjectural practices based on concepts that are inconsistent with scientific evidence.

Some modern astrologers use metaphoric or “symbolic language” in which the same statement allows many different interpretations. European and Indian astrology are derived from the Sumerian-Babylonian astral myths in which the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, planets) and constellations have been associated with gods and mythological figures, the influence of the gods on people’s lives within this mythology has been transformed into impact on the life of heaven. This mythology finally transformed into astrology the one we know these days.  As you can see not every search for the answers is transformed into a science or reality.

Chiropractic

Chiropractic is the most controversial pseudoscience of alternative medicine. Let’s see how good the chiropractic is. The main chiropractic treatment technique involves manual therapy, especially manipulation of the spine, other joints, and soft tissues, but may also include exercises and health and lifestyle counseling. The “specific focus of chiropractic practice” is chiropractic subluxation. Traditional chiropractic assumes that a vertebral subluxation or spinal joint dysfunction interferes with the body’s function and its innate intelligence.

As we said above chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine that attempts to diagnose and treat people through manipulation of the skeletal system, especially the spine. Chiropractic practitioner uses manual therapy, including manipulation of the spine, joints and soft tissues, as well as exercise and lifestyle counseling, which, in fact, has nothing to do with chiropractic.

Traditional chiropractic is based on vital signs and suggests that the problems of the spine affect the overall function of the body and the so-called “innate intelligence.” This approach is the subject of criticism of evidence-based medicine. Also, chiropractic has never been accepted by traditional medicine as a science of treatment. the last international conference on chiropractic in Seattle, WA in their final statement profoundly reject any healing effect of chiropractic manipulation leaving only its usefulness during acute pain cases.

Esotericism

Esotericism (from the ancient Greek. Ἐσωτερικός – internal) is a set of specific ways of perceiving reality with secret content and expression in a “psycho-spiritual practices”. The composition of Esotericism included magic, alchemy, astrology, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Theosophy, Sufism, yoga, the Vajrayana (the Buddhist Tantrism) , Masonry, anthroposophy, modalism, and other pseudoscience.

There are different approaches to determining the specificity of esotericism as a special field of culture. Thus, in Russian history and philosophy of science esotericism is sometimes defined as a collection of diverse forms of knowledge produced by intellectual communities, acting outside the rationalist norms and standards, which differ from the classical scientific samples and standards and therefore attributable to the “agency” non-scientific knowledge. At the same time, some authors consider esotericism as a special type of rationality, which is currently undergoing a conscious reflection and conceptualization.

Homeopathy

Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann based on his doctrine of like cures like, a claim that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people would cure similar symptoms in sick people. Homeopathy is a pseudoscience – a belief that is incorrectly presented as scientific. Homeopathic preparations are not effective for treating any condition;  large-scale studies have found homeopathy to be no more effective than a placebo, suggesting that any positive feelings that follow treatment are only due to the placebo effect and normal recovery from illness.

Among the findings of the British Parliament 2010 document on Homeopathy, the principle of “treating like with like” has no theoretical grounds and is not able to provide a reasonable mode of therapeutic use of homeopathic products, and the idea that if ultrahigh dilution retains traces of dissolved substances scientifically untenable.

Kabbalah

Kabbalah (Hebrew: קַבָּלָה‎, literally “receiving/tradition”^[1]) is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought that originated in Judaism. A traditional Cabbalist in Judaism is called a Mekubbal (Hebrew: מְקוּבָּל‎).  Kabbalah is a mystical and religious-like of the esoteric Judaism, which appeared in the XII century and were extended in the XVI century. Kabbalah is an esoteric tradition and claims the secret knowledge contained in the Torah, the divine revelation.

Kabbalah is related to the comprehension of the Creator and the Creation, the role and objectives of the Creator, human nature, and its meaning of existence. Complete Kabbalah teaching was formed in the Middle Ages. The basis of the Kabbalah writings constitutes Yetzirah, Bagir, Zohar and the writings of the Ari (Rabbi Yitzhak Luria Ashkenazi, known as the Arizal). Like any esoteric pseudoscience Kabbalah’s claims required people to be old enough to accept and comprehend all mystical examples within its dogma.

Metaphysics

Metaphysics (ancient Greek. Τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσικά “beyond physics” and it is a traditional branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it. Al though the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms: Ultimately, what is there?

1. What is it like?
2. What is the cause of causes?
3. What are the origins of the sources?
4. What is the starting point?
5. Where, literally, conceptually, or topologically these principles are located?
6. Why we do not see “just” that hinders and prevents them to be visible “directly” without additional “operations”?
7. What are the requirements for the “operation”, the execution of which could guarantee obtaining reliable answers to these questions?
8. Who or what is generally puts these questions and why do these questions even exist?

Originally, the word “metaphysics” was used in the collection of 14 books of Aristotle with arguments about the first reason (“first birth things”), remaining after it in its raw form. Metaphysics maintains its status as one of the central values (concepts, categories, modes of thought) philosophy throughout history, from ancient times to the present day. For many philosophers, metaphysics is synonymous of philosophy in general.

With the modern views on the present state of computer science, Nano-electronics and global communication, including the Internet and space exploration, many questions originally stated by metaphysics are diminishing. People’s collective knowledge is growing with astonishing rate improving and replacing our old perception of the world around us.

Psychology

According to Wiki, Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. It is a behavior discipline and an applied science which seeks to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and researching specific cases. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is called a psychologist and can be classified as a social, behavioral, or cognitive scientist. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior, while also exploring the physiological and biological processes that underlie cognitive function engineering and behaviors.

Well, so far so good, as we usually say. However, the so-called science of psychology is dealing with a snap-shot of human behavior. It doesn’t have tools to analyze anything else dynamically. A simple guess to this phenomenon could, probably, shine a light to the whole science of psychology: is it real? Does the Psychology deal with something tangible or everything they ‘invented” is just imaginary and non-existent.

The writer of this article, when he just graduated with Master’s degree from engineering university in Belarus, had a chance to prepare himself for a post-graduated study towards his Ph.D. in psychology from another university. During his preparation for the exams he discovered that any or all claims and statements of the psychology are mistaken.

Below is a table of the most popular topics of psychological studies in comparison to their true values:

 Parapsychology

Parapsychology is a pseudoscience concerned with the investigation of paranormal and psychic phenomena which includes telepathy,precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, near-death experiences, reincarnation, apparitional experiences, and other paranormal claims.

In parapsychology, psi is the unknown factor in extrasensory perception and psychokinetic experiences that is not explained by known physical or biological mechanisms. The term is derived from the Greek ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and the initial letter of the Greek ψυχή psyche, “mind, soul”. The term was coined by biologist Berthold P. Wiesner, and first used by psychologist Robert Thouless in a 1942 article published in the British Journal of Psychology.

The Parapsychological Association divides psi into two main categories: psi-gamma for extrasensory perception and psi-kappa for psychokinetic. In popular culture, “psi” has become more and more synonymous with special psychic, mental, and “psionic” abilities and powers.

Parapsychology research also relates to other areas of psychology: trans-personal psychology, whereby it’s postulated transcendental aspects of the human mind, and abnormal psychology, which investigates paranormal beliefs and subjective anomalous events in traditional psychological conditions.

Most scientists consider parapsychology a pseudoscience because for more than a century of research within this discipline none of  acceptable evidence of the existence of the claimed “psychic” abilities have been properly documented and publicized.

Religion

A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence. Many religions have narratives, symbols, and sacred histories that aim to explain the meaning of life, the origin of life, or the Universe. From their beliefs about the cosmos and human nature, people may derive morality, ethics, religious laws, or a preferred lifestyle.

Many religions may have organized behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, holy places, and scriptures. The practice of a religion may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of a deity, gods, or goddesses), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions may also contain mythology.

As we can see, the modern meaning of Religion (lat. Religare – reuniting) is a special form of consciousness of the world, due to the belief in the supernatural, which includes a set of moral norms and behaviors, outlook, ceremonies, cult of action and association of people in the organization (church, religious community, and temples).

The religious system of representation of the world (worldview) is based on religious belief and is related to the ratio of human to superhuman spiritual world or to some superhuman reality of which man knows something, and that it should in some way to orient their lives.

Faith can be supported by a mystical experience. Of particular importance to religion is such a thing as good and evil, morality, purpose and meaning of life and so on.

Fundamentals of religious beliefs of most religions of the world are written by people in the sacred texts, which, in the opinion of believers, either dictated or inspired directly by God or gods, or written by people who have reached higher spiritual state, such as great teachers, especially enlightened or initiated, holy and so on. Religion is the dominant worldview in most countries; the majority of respondents consider themselves to be one of the religion or the other.

Interesting to know that among non-believers, any religion is just a history of the people and their view towards each other and any imaginary substance which might be located anywhere.  Majority non-believers usually do not use imaginary objects, both spiritual and mind-driven, and do not apply any mystical quality to any of them. From their point of view any person who is believing to any super-mind or any imaginary entity can easily starts believing in totally ridiculous things like UFO, paranormal activity, supernatural “facts”, reincarnation, communication to dead people and animals, person-to-person healing, naturopathy,  and dozens of other never-been-proved phenomena.