ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to summarize topics so as to unite them into a common theme. The critical/scientific approach differs from the dogmatic approach in that it uses hypothesis-deduction to severely test hypotheses with the possibility of falsifying them. The dogmatic approach looks for confirmations, an inductive approach. In recent decades, there has been a shift from having scientists direct research to managerial control of scientific organizations, causing a lowering of scientific quality. This change has led to the advent of certain individuals into organizations where they cause destruction from within. How well a democracy functions and how much it is influenced by the media depends on the makeup of the electorate with respect to the population of critical thinkers. Five current issues were considered to illustrate flaws in application of critical thinking. These were anthropogenic global warming, the status of the Great Barrier Reef, the saturated fat–heart disease hypothesis, the explosion in gluten-free foods, and genetic engineering. The path to raising the standard of thinking is through education.
