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Bechtel states that vitalism "is often viewed as [[Falsifiability|unfalsifiable]], and therefore a pernicious metaphysical doctrine."<ref name=Bechtel/> For many scientists, "vitalist" theories were unsatisfactory "holding positions" on the pathway to mechanistic understanding. In 1967, [[Francis Crick]], the co-discoverer of the structure of [[DNA]], stated "And so to those of you who may be vitalists I would make this prophecy: what everyone believed yesterday, and you believe today, only [[Crank (person)|cranks]] will believe tomorrow."<ref name="Crick">Crick, Francis (1967) ''Of Molecules and Men''; Great Minds Series Prometheus Books 2004, reviewed [http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/reviews/crickandkurtz.htm here]. Crick's remark is cited and discussed in: Hein H (2004) [https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00413789 Molecular biology vs. organicism: The enduring dispute between mechanism and vitalism.] ''Synthese'' 20:238–253, who describes Crick's remark as "raising spectral red herrings".</ref>
While many vitalistic theories have in fact been falsified, notably Mesmerism, the [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] retention of untested and [[Testability|untestable]] theories continues to this day. [[Alan Sokal]] published an analysis of the wide acceptance among professional nurses of "scientific theories" of spiritual healing. (Pseudoscience and Postmodernism: Antagonists or Fellow-Travelers?).<ref name="Sokal">[http://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/pseudoscience_rev.pdf Pseudoscience and Postmodernism: Antagonists or Fellow-Travelers? (pdf)]</ref> Use of a technique called [[therapeutic touch]] was especially reviewed by Sokal, who concluded, "nearly all the pseudoscientific systems to be examined in this essay are based philosophically on vitalism" and added that "Mainstream science has rejected vitalism since at least the 1930s, for a plethora of good reasons that have only become stronger with time."<ref name="Sokal" />
Joseph C. Keating, Jr.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ncmic.com/pages/ce/seminars/speakers/keating.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525203939/http://www.ncmic.com/pages/ce/seminars/speakers/keating.htm|url-status=dead|title=Joseph C. Keating, Jr., PhD: Biographical sketch|archivedate=May 25, 2006}}</ref> discusses vitalism's past and present roles in [[chiropractic]] and calls vitalism "a form of [[bio-theology]]." He further explains that:
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