ABSTRACT
In speaking of what he termed the “essential tension” in science, Thomas Kuhn has noted that: “the successful scientist must simultaneously display the characteristics of the traditionalist and of the iconoclast. It is this problem of equilibrium that faces the scientific community in its collective reception of unconventional theories. The proponent of acupuncture or psi thinks that the implausibility of claims is secondary to their importance if they are true. The problems surrounding the reception of unconventional science can perhaps be better understood by unpacking the central issues for each of these interlocked elements: reception, unconventional, andscience. In addition to some relativity as to how extraordinary or plausible a new idea is even to the point of claiming a need for a whole new scientific specialty for its study. This is well exemplified by the parapsychologists, many of whom view themselves not as a specialty group within psychology but as a distinct science.
