Hence why we like to think of it as a protoscience, and not quite an actual science.
In the philosophy of science, there are several definitions of protoscience. Protoscience is sometimes distinguished from pseudoscience by a willingness to be disproven by new evidence, or to be replaced by a more predictive theory.
** Compare fringe science, which is considered highly speculative or even strongly refuted.[1] Some protosciences go on to become an accepted part of mainstream science.[2]
Philosopher of chemistry Jaap Brakel defines protoscience as “the study of normative criteria for the use of experimental technology in science.”
On protoscience Thomas Kuhn said that they “generate testable conclusions but … nevertheless resemble philosophy and the arts rather than the established sciences in their developmental patterns. I think, for example, of fields like chemistry and electricity before the mid-eighteenth century, of the study of heredity and phylogeny before the mid-nineteenth, or of many of the social sciences today.” While noting that they meet the demarcation criteria of falsifiability from Popper, he questions whether the discussion in protoscience fields “result[s] in clear-cut progress”. Kuhn concluded that protoscience, “like the arts and philosophy, lack some element which, in the mature sciences, permits the more obvious forms of progress. It is not, however, anything that a methodological prescription can provide. … I claim no therapy to assist the transformation of a proto-science to a science, nor do I suppose anything of this sort is to be had”.[4]
Source: Protoscience - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There is an endless circuit of testable hypotheses, with a parade of variables to rule out. We use scientific techniques to clean up the testing procedure, and that’s always a work in progress. Small improvement over small improvement. Incremental improvements add up. Being paranoid about quality basics is important. Something so simple as cleanliness is tantamount to the testing procedure, but oft overlooked. There isn’t even dust in our formulating lab.
And now, I’m sure, with me just saying that, all the other pheromone spinsters in pheromone world are going to adjust their store copy to say they work in a Class V Pharmaceutical Grade Clean Room Environment. Just watch.
Nevertheless, it’s quality basics, constant thought checking, and road testing that precedes a good product or mix. You miss any of those, and you have missed them all.