Bourgeois pseudoscience

Bourgeois pseudoscience (Russian: буржуазная лженаука) was a term of condemnation in the Soviet Union for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed unacceptable from an ideological point of view[1][2] due to their incompatibility with Marxism–Leninism. At various times pronounced "bourgeois pseudosciences" were: Mendelian genetics,[notes 1] cybernetics,[3] quantum physics,[citation needed] theory of relativity,[citation needed] sociology[citation needed] and particular directions in comparative linguistics (the now-debunked Japhetic theory of Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr, which was also refuted by Stalin in "Marxism and Problems of Linguistics").

The term was not used by Stalin himself,[citation needed] who rejected the notion that all sciences must have a class nature. Stalin removed all mention of “bourgeois biology” from Trofim Lysenko’s report, The State of Biology in the Soviet Union, and in the margin next to the statement that “any science is based on class” Stalin wrote, “Ha-ha-ha!! And what about mathematics? Or Darwinism?”[4] The term or its synonyms was used it in the 1951 and 1954 editions of the Short Philosophical Dictionary: "Cybernetic is a reactionary pseudoscience originated in the United States... A form of modern mechanicism.",[3] "Eugenics is a bourgeois pseudoscience",[5] "Weismannism-Morganism - bourgeois pseudoscience, designed to justify capitalism".[6] Today, most scholars agree in characterizing eugenics as rooted in pseudoscience,[7][8] albeit without the "bourgeois" qualifier.

Psychology was declared a "bourgeois pseudoscience" in People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).[9] Furthermore, sociology was banned there in 1952,[10] and it remained banned for over 30 years.[11]

  1. ^ Loren R. Graham (2004) Science in Russia and the Soviet Union. A Short History. Series: Cambridge Studies in the History of Science. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-28789-0.[page needed]
  2. ^ Mark Walker (2002) Science and Ideology. A Comparative History. Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-27122-6.[page needed]
  3. ^ a b "Кампания против кибернетики в СССР"
  4. ^ Liu, Yongsheng; Li, Baoyin; Wang, Qinglian (September 2009). "Science and politics". EMBO Reports. 10 (9): 938–939. doi:10.1038/embor.2009.198. PMC 2750069. PMID 19721459.
  5. ^ "Евгеника".
  6. ^ "Вейсманизм - морганизм".
  7. ^ Worrall, Simon (24 July 2016). "The Gene: Science's Most Dangerous Idea". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  8. ^ White, Susan (28 June 2017). "LibGuides: The Sociology of Science and Technology: Pseudoscience". Library of University of Princeton. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  9. ^ Wang, Zhong-Ming (January 1993). "Psychology in China: A Review Dedicated to Li Chen". Annual Review of Psychology. 44 (1): 87–116. doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.44.020193.000511.
  10. ^ Feuchtwang, Stephan; Bruckermann, Charlotte (13 July 2016). Anthropology Of China, The: China As Ethnographic And Theoretical Critique. World Scientific Publishing Company. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-78326-985-3.
  11. ^ Li, Cheng (1 October 2010). China's Emerging Middle Class: Beyond Economic Transformation. Brookings Institution Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-8157-0433-1.


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