Alchemy is an example of a Protoscience that led to useful research such as exploration of the chemical nature of materials.
Protoscience is often science in search of new methods for the study of aspects of the universe that have so far avoided scientific analysis. For example, a science of astrophysics was greatly facilitated by the development of stellar spectroscopy methods. Before such experimental methods, the composition of stars was often used as an example of something beyond human knowing.
The development of some protosciences can be delayed because our existing conceptual systems make us cognitively closed to some new ideas. For example, before ocean rifts and trenches were understood, it was difficult for geologists to accept plate tectonics as meaningful science.
Which new areas of science are just waiting for a methodological or conceptual breakthrough? Are there some aspects of the universe that are simply beyond our technical or conceptual limitations?
External Links[]
- See the Wikipedia article on Protoscience.
- A descriptive list of some protosciences at Wikipedia.
- History of Science - at Wikipedia
- This "List of alternative, speculative and disputed theories" at WikiPedia compares some ideas from the fringe of science and asks, are they protoscience or pseudoscience?
- The Evolution of Geomorphology, Ecology, and Other Composite Sciences by W.R. Osterkamp and C.R. Hupp
- Wikipedia: uncomfortable science
- Wikipedia: Category:Hypothetical technology bears the same uncomfortable relationship to historical technology that Protoscience bears to historical science