The Metaproblem of Demarcation and the Attempts to Solve it in Contemporary Philosophy of Science

This article analyzes the conceptual and methodological difficulties associated with the formulation of a demarcation criterion, and some attempts to address these difficulties in the contemporary philosophy of science. We examine the critical argumentation of Larry Laudan that exposes the internal contradictions of the demarcation problem and establishes the fundamental impossibility of the demarcation project. The concepts of approaches to the demarcation project such as Paul Thagard's conceptual profile, Martin Mahner's cluster approach, and Maarten Boudry's normative demarcation are analyzed as the examples of strategies to overcome this criticism. These approaches reflect common trends in modern demarcationism: multi-criteriality, structural complication of demarcation categories, and the development of more flexible and refined tools.