In episode 029 of the Argument Ninja podcast, “How to Raise a Critical Thinker“, I gave five recommendations for parents looking for ways to help their kids become better critical thinkers. The fifth recommendation was to “develop the right kinds of background knowledge”.
The background knowledge that is most relevant to critical thinking is this knowledge, knowledge of the Light and the Dark. How we ought to think and reason, and how we in fact think and reason.
If you’re an adult, and you’re a reader, that means that you should be building a small library of books. You should have a couple of books on argument analysis, a couple of books on scientific reasoning, a couple of books on logical fallacies, and so on. That’s the Light Side.
And you should have a couple of books on how the brain works, on human psychology and human nature, on cognitive biases, on the science of persuasion and influence, and so on. That’s the Dark Side.
That’s the intellectual background that is most relevant for becoming a better critical thinker. The earlier that you’re exposed to this, and the more familiar you become with the basic concepts, the better.
FYI, I’ll have a list of book recommendations in the show notes for this episode.
… For families, I recommend that this library be open and visible to everyone, that everyone be aware of it, and be aware of the reason why you have it. It signals that you’re serious about this, that you care about critical thinking. It’s another way of modeling critical thinking values.
Starter Books
The books I recommend to someone who has a lot of prior exposure, or who comes at these issues from an academic background, are very different from the books I recommend to people who are coming to this for the first time.
The books below are in the latter category. They cover a wide array of critical thinking topics related to logic, argumentation, persuasive speech, and cognitive biases, in an engaging and accessible way for a general audience, that hopefully will whet your appetite for deeper explorations of these issues.
I have sometimes called these “bathroom reading recommendations”, because the chapters are often short enough to be completed in a single sitting (ahem). I do not disparage these kinds of books, they are some of my favorites!
I wanted this starter bundle to offer introductions to three topics:
- logical fallacies and argumentation
- cognitive biases and the psychology of human (ir)rationality
- classical rhetorical techniques related to persuasive speech
The recommendations below do just that.
From here, one can dive more deeply into any of these areas, or branch out to investigate more specialized topics, which would have more specialized reading recommendations (e.g. science and pseudoscience, media and information literacy, cognitive biases and decision-making for business, etc.)
There are several books on the market with similar titles. Some are focused more on rhetoric and persuasion than logic. If it’s written by a philosopher it’s more likely to focus on logical issues in argumentation, and that’s what I was looking for. Pirie is a philosopher, and this book does just that.
The book is not an introduction to logical concepts or foundational principles of argument analysis. (My video course, “What is a Good Argument?“, is a good introduction to foundational principles.) The book is basically an encyclopedia of logical fallacies, which Pirie defines broadly as “any trick of logic or language which allows a statement or a claim to be passed off as something it is not”. A more academic treatment would spend more time on defining and classifying fallacies, but this book lists them alphabetically.
In its brief 220 pages it covers almost 50 fallacies.
The book also has a number of helpful recommendations for how to engage in argumentation with other people in different settings (with friends, in a group, in a formal debate, online, etc.).
The author is aware that books like these can also serve as tools for unethical persuasion and manipulation, a manual for students of the Dark Side as well as the Light.
But this is the case for almost any topic in argumentation or the psychology of human reasoning. That’s why critical thinking involves MORE than logic and persuasion skills. It also involves developing certain attitudes and values — the character traits of a critical thinker.
For a more conventionally structured introduction to argument analysis aimed at beginning philosophy students, see the next recommendation below.
Anthony Weston is a professor of philosophy at Elon College in North Carolina. He works mainly in the areas of environmental philosophy and the philosophy of education, and I confess his perspective on philosophy was an influence on me during my undergraduate and graduate years.
Early in his career, Weston wrote this short little gem that has subsequently been used as a supplementary text in many introductory philosophy courses. A Rulebook for Arguments has ten short chapters that review a variety of argument types, deductive vs inductive arguments, fallacies, and principles for writing argumentative essays. It follows a structure that many philosophers will be familiar with, and is worth having on your bookshelf if you’ve never been exposed to basic principles of logic and argument analysis.
It’s also very cheap, you can find used versions for under 5 dollars on Amazon.
David McRaney is a journalist who has dedicated himself to communicating what modern psychology has taught us about human irrationality in all its forms. This book was a best-seller.
You Are Not So Smart gives an encyclopedic introduction to cognitive biases and other features of human psychology that make us prone to error and overconfidence. He summarizes influential research from the past 40 years in bite-sized chapters that are engaging and eye-opening.
The book is 300 pages and covers almost 50 cognitive biases. In my 2.5 hour video course on cognitive biases I only covered six or seven!
As with logical fallacies, this information can be used (and is being used) to intentionally manipulate people. But once you’re aware of it, you’re at least in a position to take steps to protect yourself and minimize the negative effects of these biases.
If you like this book, you may be interested in the sequel, You Are Now Less Dumb. I also recommend the You Are Not So Smart podcast, which has lots of great interviews.
This is one of those books that could easily be confused for a book on logical fallacies, but it’s not about logical fallacies. Heinrich’s training is in journalism, and he’s a student of classical rhetoric with a flair for bringing to life the principles of persuasive speech that Aristotle and other ancients first articulated thousands of years ago.
The book is an irreverent and entertaining introduction to classical rhetorical techniques and persuasion strategies, using vivid contemporary examples.
As a philosopher trained in the analytic tradition I never studied the classic Aristotelian modes of persuasive speech — logos, pathos and ethos. Heinrich’s book gave me a taste to learn more about argumentation and persuasion within the 3000 year old tradition of rhetoric, and it has enriched my understanding of the complexities and subtleties of human communication.
Deeper Dives
This is an important book.
The subject is our resistance to admitting that we’ve been wrong about something, how we rationalize our past judgments and choices even in the face of overwhelming evidence that we were wrong.
The phenomenon is universal, we’re all prone to it. But why do we do it? Aronson is one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, and he introduced the concept of “cognitive dissonance” as a mechanism for explaining this behavior.
Cognitive dissonance refers to the psychological discomfort that we feel when our attitudes and behaviors are inconsistent (dissonant). This discomfort motivates us to either change the behavior or the attitude so that consistency is restored. One of the methods we use to resolve these inconsistencies is rationalization — telling ourselves stories that make our judgements and actions appear rational to ourselves, and other people.
The book is full of great examples. Tavris and Aronson explain how politicians, pundits, doctors, lawyers, psychotherapists — all of us — come to believe that we are right and reasonable, why we maintain this dangerous self-deception even in the face of glaring evidence to the contrary, and why charlatans, scammers and tyrants can sleep at night.
These are important ideas. Every critical thinker should have a working understanding of cognitive dissonance and the rationalization strategies that we’re all prone to.
I’m fascinated by magic, and love learning about the tricks of the trade. Magic is applied psychology in action.
Derren Brown is a well known British mentalist and illusionist. He had a popular television show and hosted a number of television specials.
Examples: In one episode, Brown travels to the USA and convinces five leading figures that he has powers in their particular field of expertise: Christian evangelism, alien abduction, psychic powers, New Age theories and contacting the dead.
In another episode, under the guise of a motivational seminar, Brown uses conditioning over a period of two weeks to influence four members of the public to willingly choose to commit what they perceive to be an actual armed robbery of a security van.
In Tricks of the Mind, Brown reveals some of the techniques he uses in his performances, and delves into the structure and psychology of magic and discusses hypnosis.
He also applies his insight to the paranormal industry, looking at the structure of beliefs and how psychology can explain why people become “true believers”.
Brown also offers autobiographical stories about his own experiences as a former Christian, and discusses his skepticism about religion, allegedly psychic phenomena and other supernatural belief systems.
It’s no surprise that many working magicians are skeptics about supernatural claims, since they’re so familiar with the natural psychological mechanisms that can lead people to adopt these beliefs.
But you don’t have to be an atheist or a skeptic to learn from the insights of magicians. They are masters of the psychology of persuasion, and we should pay attention to what they have to say about human nature.
This has become a classic. I read the first edition as a student back in 1990.
Why do even well-educated people understand so little about mathematics? And what are the costs of our innumeracy?
The author argues that our inability to deal rationally with very large numbers and the probabilities associated with them results in misinformed governmental policies, confused personal decisions, and an increased susceptibility to pseudoscience of all kinds. Innumeracy lets us know what we’re missing, and how we can do something about it.
The topics covered range over many aspects of modern life, from contested elections to sports stats, from stock scams and newspaper psychics to diet and medical claims, sex discrimination, insurance, lotteries, and drug testing.
Highly recommended.
Gerd Gigerenzer is a cognitive psychologist specializing in the psychology of risk perception and intuitive judgments.
This book is an accessible introduction to the philosophy and psychology of risk assessment.
In Risk Savvy, Gigerenzer reveals that most of us, including doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, and elected officials, misunderstand statistics much more often than we think, leaving us not only misinformed, but vulnerable to exploitation. It pairs well with John Allen Paulos’s book above, but Gigerenzer is much more focused on understanding the psychology of how we make decisions, and why we’re prone to errors.
Yet there is hope. Gigerenzer’s message is that we can all learn to make better decisions for our health, finances, family, and business without needing to consult an expert or a super computer.
I find myself dipping into this and learning something new each time.
I could continue these lists indefinitely, there are so many great resources out there. But this is enough to give you the idea.
If you have a favorite critical thinking book recommendation, don’t hesitate to share in the comments below.