BOOK REVIEW
published: 09 April 2021
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656331
Book Review: Critical Thinking: A
Concise Guide
Valentin Gravet 1 and Mathieu Hainselin 1,2*
1
Département de Psychologie, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France, 2 CRP-CPO, UR UPJV 7273, Université
de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France
Keywords: cognitive bias, belief, judgment, knowledge, open-mind, self-questioning
A Book Review on
Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide
Tracy Bowell, Robert Cowan, and Gary Kemp (New York, NY: Routledge), 2020, 348 Pages, ISBN:
9780815371434
“To believe or not to believe, that is the question” should be an automatic question we ask ourselves.
Thus, scientists’ aim should be to provide reasons and evidence when many people do not
believe in science. These kinds of questions are even more important during health crisis when
the general population have to follow scientists’ recommendations [i.e., coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19)]. Indeed, multiple factors can lead people to relay misinformation or be victim of false
reasoning (Apuke and Omar, 2020). Bowell, Cowan, and Kemp’s book (Bowell et al., 2020) is a great
start to learn how to distinguish good arguments from false reasoning or rhetorical techniques.
Synthesis and simplification of information, logical and analytical reasoning, as well as systematical
evaluation of verbal content will be taught in this book, which come close to the very definition
of critical thinking (Jacobs et al., 1997). To help the reader through the book, the authors made a
chapter summary in the introduction and at the beginning and the end of each chapter. While some
of the eight chapters are quite independent, a few of them are bonded together (3 and 4, 5, and 6).
Edited and reviewed by:
Myint Swe Khine, EVALUATION OF THE BOOK’S CONTENT
Curtin University, Australia
*Correspondence: The first chapter introduces us to the critical thinking with lots of definitions. Basics of
Mathieu Hainselin argumentation, are explained and many practical examples (i.e., Martin Luther King’s “I have a
[email protected] dream” speech) are put forward. Open-mindedness and self-questioning are explicitly promoted
and encouraged.
Specialty section: Chapter 2 leads to a non-exhaustive list of rhetoric methods seeking to persuade without using
This article was submitted to
arguments. Many tips are provided to spot these attempts in a speech and to judge the relevance of
Educational Psychology,
a section of the journal
arguments without being under the influence of rhetorical elements. Overall, it is an easy-to-read
Frontiers in Psychology chapter that teaches how to dodge non-argumentative ploys.
Both Chapters 3 and 4 are dedicated to logical reasoning. They are the most elaborated chapters
Received: 20 January 2021
Accepted: 27 February 2021
of the book and introduce a lot of principles, models, and definitions. Chapter 3 starts with the
Published: 09 April 2021 question of deductive validity, which will be discussed through the concepts of true, false, valid, or
Citation:
invalid concerning arguments and their components. Chapter 4 introduces probabilistic reasoning
Gravet V and Hainselin M (2021) Book and logic. Probabilities, mathematics models, and methods to judge the relevance of an argument
Review: Critical Thinking: A Concise are at the center of this chapter.
Guide. Front. Psychol. 12:656331. Again, both Chapters 5 and 6 are paired, as they are, respectively, dedicated to argument
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.656331 reconstruction and judgment. Longer than the other ones, Chapter 5 focuses on the process
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1 April 2021 | Volume 12 | Article 656331
Gravet and Hainselin Book Review: Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide
of extracting an argument in order to reconstruct it in its to decompose and analyze a speech. In addition, this fifth
simplest form. Chapter 6 deals with argument analysis in two edition introduces the use of Venn diagrams to illustrate
parts. The first part is about methods to assess both validity and categorical deductive logic. Many detailed examples have also
relevance of a given argument. The second part includes some been added, as well as the discussion of current phenomena
practical tips and advices to provide constructive criticism of (i.e., fake news). We strongly encourage librarians and teachers
an argumentation. After reading Chapter 6, you will be able to to recommend this book to train critical thinking psychology
successfully pass the Ennis–Weir Critical Thinking Test (Ennis students in university (Lacot et al., 2016) and earlier at school
and Weir, 1985), a critical thinking test based on a flawed when possible (Hand et al., 2018). Indeed, from both practical
arguments letter. and academic point of view, this book could be addressed to
The last two chapters are mostly independent from the rest undergraduate students to enable them to develop an open-
of the book and are easy to read, although you do not have mindedness and a deep reflection around their own knowledge
mathematical skills. Chapter 7 is probably the most on time and the concepts addressed during their training and practice
chapter these days. It introduces pseudo-reasoning, fallacious, (i.e., therapies, models). Anyone, regardless of their previous
and misleading arguments (i.e., uses of ad hominem fallacy when knowledge, could benefit from this book, as there are lots
responding to someone’s argument by making an attack upon the of example, practical exercises and definitions. Finally, this
person rather than addressing the argument itself). Beyond the book’s additional contribution compared to previous books is to
concept, the authors explain a very interesting paradox: why these provide a methodical, simple, and complete explanation of the
arguments should not be considered as reliable and why so many fundamental concepts related to critical thinking in a practical,
of us still tend to accept them. playful, and concrete manner with numerous illustrations drawn
The last chapter is a philosophical opening on epistemological from the real world. We hope this book will be translated in
and sociological questions. Concepts of truth or false, knowledge, different languages in the future, as the flawed arguments and
and believing are discussed, leaving the reader to make up his shortcuts are well-spread in the world.
own mind on the subject. The main purpose of this chapter is to
add nuance to what we may consider as true, or not, even before AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
analyzing logical structures and relevance of arguments.
VG wrote the manuscript. MH drafted it. All authors contributed
DISCUSSION to the article and approved the submitted version.
Researchers in philosophy, psychology, and education agree FUNDING
that critical thinking covers skills of analysis, logical reasoning,
judgment, and decision making (Lai et al., 2011). All these This book was bought with funding from the ANR Education à
topics are explored in this book, allowing the reader to have l’Esprit Critique (EEC)—grant number ANR-18-CE28-0018-07.
an insight on what can be defined as critical thinking such
as the mastery of language, logic, argumentation, and problem ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
solving. Technical concepts are explained by different methods
such as the schematization of arguments into syllogisms with The authors would like to thank Nabila Terchani for kindly
premise(s) and conclusion(s) and the use of extended examples handling all administrative issues.
REFERENCES Lacot, E., Blondelle, G., and Hainselin, M. (2016). From Bill Shankly to
the Huffington post: how to increase critical thinking in experimental
Apuke, O. D., and Omar, B. (2020). Fake news and COVID-19: modelling the psychology course? Front. Psychol. 7:538. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.
predictors of fake news sharing among social media users. Telemat. Inform. 00538
56:101475. doi: 10.1016/j.tele.2020.101475 Lai, E., Bay-Borelli, M., Kirkpatrick, R., Lin, A., and Wang, C. (2011). Critical
Bowell, T., Cowan, R., and Kemp, G. (2020). Critical Thinking: A concise guide, 5th Thinking: A Literature Review Research Report. London, UK: Pearson.
Edn. New York, NY : Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781351243735
Ennis, W. R., and Weir, E. E. (1985). The Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
Essay Test : An Instrument for Teaching and Testing. Pacific Grove, CA: absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
Midwest Publications. potential conflict of interest.
Hand, B., Shelley, M. C., Laugerman, M., Fostvedt, L., and Therrien, W.
(2018). Improving critical thinking growth for disadvantaged groups within Copyright © 2021 Gravet and Hainselin. This is an open-access article distributed
elementary school science: a randomized controlled trial using the Science under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use,
Writing Heuristic approach. Sci. Educ. 102, 693–710. doi: 10.1002/sce.21341 distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original
Jacobs, P. M., Ott, B., Sullivan, B., Ulrich, Y., and Short, L. (1997). An author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication
approach to defining and operationalizing critical thinking. J. Nurs. Educ. 36, in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use,
19–22. distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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