Exactly, was. I hear alchemy was popular for a time too.
look at psychology as something similar, a quasi-science that is useful when limited to descriptions and personal counseling.
Many aspects of research psychology do use empirical scientific methods. In other cases they use surveys and other methods that make it more of a "soft science," mainly because people are so different and unpredictable. In any case it can return valuable information. Medicine's kind of like that in general, some science, some art.
Yes, it is like sociology.The problems arises when one confuses classes of data with concrete realities. Marxism is a form of sociology. So pits “workers” against “the bourgeoisie” as if the relationships between the two groups were purely economic in nature and defined/refined through conflict. Fact is that the existence of “masters” like Owen and Engel is proof that the the relationships between workers and industrialists were not much different than between landowners and their dependents. It all depended on the character of the overlord. Psychologists get into trouble when they generalize, because all in all, the best among them are persons with deep empathy with their patients. The Freudians went bust because they tried to apply a false theory.