Critical Thinking - How science differs from pseudoscience

As science evolves it finds better and better ways to describe the real world. On the other hand, superstition and pseudoscience continue to muddle the waters.science is the rational, incremental pursuit of knowledge. The only real way to progress is to design and conduct studies, report the results in peer reviewed journals and proceed to the next question.   Problems come in interpreting the results, of course, and journalists have a responsibility to fairly represent the studies' conclusions - often they're taken out of context or oversimplified

unfortunately, the American public is getting more and more scientifically illiterate [not helped any by those who think creationism is a science], so more people can be misled. Basic statistics should be a part of everyone's education, probably more important for people than geometry or trig or calculus. Critical thinking is required if we're to have an informed populace. And it matters because anyone can vote, serve on a jury, etc, no matter how ignorant [ie, lacking in facts, not stupid]. The solution is not to the franchise but rather to bring up the level scientific knowledge and other important information in everyone's daily life. This involves not only information but also how we organize that information.  

Critical thinking gives us the tools to evaluate information and its process that can easily be learned. In a way pseudoscience and beliefs in paranormal are some of the easiest fallacies to debunk. At first many of these claims appear to be invulnerable once you learn which questions to ask these claims are easy to deny. I first started reading the Skeptical Inquirer 's when Martin Gardner talked about it in his column in Scientific American in the 1980s.  By investigating claims of the paranormal using scientific methods it's easily shown that basic scientific methods by these extraordinary claims. 

For example the book of genesis can't stand up to a rational, scientific reading - it's actually a conflation of at least 2 earlier creation myths and the order of creation is different in each story this - in one place it says man was created after the animals, in another that animals were created first - it also says light was created before the sun which is the source of our light.  These errors show problems in using an ancient text to describe the modern world.

by allowing religious to define atheism many thinkers have been forced on the defensive. Atheism is not firm knowledgethat there is no God, for who can prove a negative. Rather atheism is merely the acknowledgment that we find no evidence FOR the existence of any god.  Some would call this agnosticism but there's really no difference. It's not an easy or comforting conclusion, but, among other conclusions  it means we need to seek a moral basis somewhere other than "do this or you'll go to hell!"   

Skeptic Magazine and Free Inquiry are other sources for developing your critical thinking skills.
Science is under attack from many quarters these days.  These books give some excellent introductions and explanations of some of the more common misconceptions and misguided attempts.   Here are several books that focus on specific areas of irrational thinking  and also show that the right has no monopoly on faulty thinking

 Goddess Unmasked: The Rise of Neopagan Feminist Spirituality. It's quite a mouthful  for a title, but it's an excellent   debunking of  'Goddess spirituality 's fraudulent promises of a new age of peace and justice.   Davis "exposes the complete want of archaeological evidence for this claim, revealing the movement's nineteenth century roots in radical Romanticism", not a matrilineal or matriarchical descent that is thousands of years old

 Higher Superstition : The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science.. A thorough examination what happens when academics apply a confused literary philosophy to science. It covers postmodernism, feminism, radical environmentalism, multiculturalism and AIDS activism -- each of these areas has tremendous strengths and importance, but the deconstructionist approach (aka political correctness) often leads to absurd positions. None of these discussions can be dismissed with sound bites, and this book is heavy going in places, but it's essential for anyone trying to work or think within modern science and academia.

The Secret Origins of the Bible Tim Callahan - a description of the process by which what we now call the Bible was assembled dozens of earlier texts, and much borrowing from this earlier civilizations and their beliefs

Life’s Dominion – Ronald Dworkin - arguments on deciding the taking of life including discussions of abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment

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