>[!abstract] >"Not even wrong" is a phrase used to describe pseudoscience or bad science. It describes an argument or explanation that purports to be scientific but uses faulty reasoning or speculative premises, which can be neither affirmed nor denied and thus cannot be discussed rigorously and scientifically. Peter Woit uses the phrase "not even wrong" to mean "unfalsifiable". > >The phrase is generally attributed to the theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who was known for his colorful objections to incorrect or careless thinking. Rudolf Peierls documents an instance in which a friend showed Pauli the paper of a young physicist which he suspected was not of great value but on which he wanted Pauli's views. Pauli remarked sadly, "This isn't right. It's not even wrong" (Wikipedia, 2024). >[!quote] >In science, if an idea is not falsifiable, it is not that it is wrong, it is that we cannot determine if it is wrong, and thus it is not even wrong ([[Shermer, 2006]]). Wrongness is relative: >[!quote] >When people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together ([[Asimov, 1988]]). Science is about attenuating wrongness with time. Egregious examples: [[drapetomania]] and [[dysaesthesia aethiopica]]. >[!related] >- **North** (upstream): [[Philosophy of science]] >- **West** (similar): [[Pseudoscience]] >- **East** (different): [[Falsifiability]] (Karl Popper) >- **South** (downstream): [[Category error]]