This volume collects the papers presented at a conference on “Science, Pseudo–science and Society,” sponsored by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities and held at the University of Calgary, May 10–12, 1979. More than many such collections, this one preserves some trace of the intellectual excitement which surrounded this gathering of scholars.

A primary inspiration for the symposium on “Science, Pseudoscience, and Society” was a growing awareness of the crucial role the study of pseudo–science plays in the areas of contemporary scholarship which are concerned with the nature of science and its relationship to broader social issues.

This volume is organized around three major questions concerning the relationships among science, pseudo–science, and society. The papers in the first section address the question of whether it is possible to draw a sharp demarcation between science and pseudo–science and what the criteria of that demarcation might be. The papers in the second section, recognizing the historical importance of various of the pseudo–sciences, consider their impact—positive or negative—on the development of the sciences themselves. The papers in the third section deal with the question of the relationship between the sciences and pseudo–sciences, on the one hand, and social factors on the other.

Marsha P. Hanen, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Provost of University College at the University of Calgary, specializes in the philosophy of the natural and social sciences and the philosophy of law. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Brown University and her Ph.D. from Brandeis University, and recently spent a year as a Fellow in Law and Philosophy at Harvard University. She has published articles on aspects of the philosophy of science and law and has spoken widely in England and North America.

Margaret J. Osier, Associate Professor of History at the University of Calgary, received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University. She has published a number of articles on the mechanical philosophy and science in the seventeenth century.

Robert G. Weyant, Professor of Psychology at the University of Calgary and former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his M.A. from Kent State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. His area of research is the history of psychology, especially in the eighteenth century. He is editor of a facsimile edition of Condillac’s Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge and has published a number of articles on the history of psychology.

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Margaret J. Osier, Associate Professor of History at the University of Calgary, received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University. She has published a number of articles on the mechanical philosophy and science in the seventeenth century.

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Robert G. Weyant, Professor of Psychology at the University of Calgary and former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his M.A. from Kent State University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. His area of research is the history of psychology, especially in the eighteenth century. He is editor of a facsimile edition of Condillac’s Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge and has published a number of articles on the history of psychology.

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