A Virtue Epistemological Approach to the Demarcation Problem Implications for Teaching About Feng Shui in Science Education

We argue for a virtue epistemological approach to the demarcation problem, for we think that such an approach makes sense from the perspective of an ameliorative epistemology. We argue that sustained and consistent pseudoscientific beliefs and attitudes call for an explanation in terms of underlying epistemic vices, and that remedying them calls for charging the relevant people with vice, but in a responsible and sensitive way. We exemplify some common epistemic vices associated with pseudoscientific beliefs through the case of Feng Shui. We then discuss the value of incorporating pseudoscience in science education and advocate teaching students to identify epistemic virtues and vices in scientific and pseudoscientific practices. We argue for an education focused on epistemic character building and cultivating epistemically virtuous students from early on. This will lead them to become good epistemic agents, in general, and careful (producers and) consumers of science and pseudoscience in particular.