When Karl Popper popularized the "testability" definition of scientific theory, he had two targets in his sights: Freud and Marx. Freudians and Marxists were p

When Karl Popper popularized the "testability" definition of scientific theory, he had two targets in his sights: Freud and Marx. Freudians and Marxists were promoting what was, in his view, scientism: a dangerous middle ground where theories and studies appear scientific but aren't. These two fields (psychology & economics) are still having a lot of problems with that middle ground. On one hand, they aren't willing to cede the science label, and join the other humanities like history and philosophy. On the other, very few of their important theories are scientific. IE, the big debates in economics & psychology are about theories that will never be tested. They'll fall into and out of fashion due to anecdotes and other intellectual trends. The Keynesian paradox of thrift, Friedman's monetarism... these will never be tested, confirmed or denied. They are likely to fall out and maybe back into fashion. Neither will historical materialism, etc. Same exact thing in psychology. It's a more aggressive conclusion than I'm happy with but.. behavioural psychology is pseudoscience.