Science is NEVER settled, and if the “scientific method” is being applied as it is should, it never shall be. There are only working hypotheses, and when too much evidence accumulates that disproves the hypothesis, a new hypothesis must be postulated, and again put to the test.
Critical thinking is an absolute requirement to make the scientific method work.
Not really sure what you are getting at, but I agree with your comments, of course.
Sheldrake is the opposite. He comes with his a priori beliefs, which are religious, to fit a scientific veneer over.
And what Sheldrake is pointing out is that scientists have settled into a Scientistic ideology that in many areas of “science” disallows questioning or even use of the scientific method to test the beliefs of this ideology via experimentation.
He’s right on that point.