Pseudoscience in Working Life

Keynote speakers:

Sven Ove Hansson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

Mona Mannevuo, University of Helsinki

Programme committee:

Inkeri Koskinen, University of Helsinki

Ilmari Hirvonen, University of Helsinki

Kaisa Luoma, Tampere University

Päivi Seppälä, University of Helsinki and Centria University of Applied Sciences

Questionable theories and tools are frequently used in working life. Management and HR training, as well as various consultancy services, often rely on theories with weak epistemic foundations – sometimes even overtly pseudoscientific ones. Recruitment processes make use of dubious personality tests. The same pattern can be seen in self-help literature on the world of work. Pseudoscience is widely applied in working life in the private and public sectors.

In this workshop, we will critically examine this multifaceted phenomenon. We welcome abstracts from a broad range of disciplines.

Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The adequacy of proposed demarcation criteria in identifying pseudoscience in working life
• The relevance of philosophical discussions on demarcation for the working life
• The epistemic responsibilities of employers and managers
• Epistemological and ethical assumptions that motivate the use of pseudoscientific theories and practices in working life
• Commercialization, business consultancy and the market for pseudoscience in working life and management
• The misuse and epistemically dubious applications of science in working life and management
• Responsibilities of academic researchers in identifying and questioning pseudoscientific practices in management and HR
• Pseudoscience in business literature and in business self-help

The workshop is jointly organised by the project Pseudoscience in working life, funded by the Emil Aaltonen Foundation (2023–2025, PI: Inkeri Koskinen), and TINT – Centre for Philosophy of Social Science at the University of Helsinki.

If you would like to present at the workshop, please send an extended abstract (800–1000 words), anonymized for blind review, to [email protected] by 25 May 2025. Please provide your name and information about your institutional affiliation (if applicable) in your email, but leave all identifying information out of the abstract. The workshop is organised as an in-person event.

For more information, please email: [email protected]