<p>Growth mindset theory and interventions have become nearly ubiquitous in education, especially in Western countries. While a vigorous debate has been underway in the field of psychology about the merit of the theory and interventions based upon it, there have been few if any focused treatments of the topic in philosophy of education. This paper illustrates four complementary ways in which growth mindset theory and interventions can be critically assessed, drawing on literature in both psychology and philosophy. The four critical angles are: (1) reviewing available empirical studies, especially through the lens of insights drawn from statistics and philosophy of science; (2) carefully considering the context of in which the research is carried out and the nature of its conclusions; (3) paying attention to its conceptual integrity, in part by (re)turning to ordinary language; and (4) analyzing the way in which mindset theory is embedded in and influenced by idiosyncratic features of Western culture. The paper concludes that the empirical research on growth mindset interventions is mixed; contextual factors make it difficult to evaluate their effectiveness; the central concepts of mindset theory are rife with problems; and the theory aligns with and may inadvertently perpetuate Western ideological trends.</p>