Critical thinking about the origin of AIDS Comments on Stephen Jenkins’ account

Stephen H. Jenkins, in his book Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology, includes a section titled “Peer review and the origin of AIDS.” In it, he analyses two main theories about the origin of AIDS, the cut-hunter and the polio-vaccine hypotheses. He also draws on and comments on my social science studies of the origin-of-AIDS dispute. Critical thinking is worthwhile in nearly every field of scholarship. However, it comes with a series of traps for the unwary. My aim here is to point out some of the shortcomings of Jenkins’ treatment, illustrating how better knowledge and broader understanding can help to overcome some of the traps.