Dismantling yhe rhetoric of alternative medicine: smokescreens, errors, conspiracies, and follies

• Autores: Edzard Ernst, Angelo Fasce
• Localización: Mètode Science Studies Journal: Annual Review, ISSN 2174-3487, ISSN-e 2174-9221, Nº. 8, 2018 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Making Science. A multitude of perspectives), págs. 148-155
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Alternative medicine has a high social prevalence, being promoted by well organized groups that have developed an intricate rhetoric in order to self-justify in the absence of evidence. This article will analyse some of these arguments, some of their fallacies – ad populum, ad ignorantiam –, other styles of reasoning – conspiracy theories – and other misconceptions of scientific concepts – placebo effect, scientific authority. The objective will be to highlight the poverty of the rhetoric of proponents of alternative medicine, with special emphasis on the dangers for the consumer.