The Dubois syndrome

The modem scientific method relies on falsification of large, overarching explanatory hypotheses, but refutation at any level is not easily accepted, nor should it necessarily be. Here we discuss the "Dubois syndrome," based on the history of Eugène Dubois, famous for the discovery and interpretation of Pithecanthropus erectus. Widely viewed as unbalanced for his changing understanding of these important fossils, we discuss how his apparent capriciousness was actually a rational conclusion based on his adherence to a broad evolutionary theory. Examples of the Dubois syndrome are common, perhaps especially so in paleoanthropology because the database, even many years later, is small.