The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human NatureA brilliant inquiry into the origins of human nature from the author of Rationality, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Enlightenment Now. "Sweeping, erudite, sharply argued, and fun to read..also highly persuasive." --Time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Updated with a new afterword One of the world's leading experts on language and the mind explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts. Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 87
Page i
... idea of an innately flawed but wonderfully rich human nature is a force for good , not evil . " -Colin McGinn , The Washington Post " Steven Pinker is a man of encyclopedic knowledge and an incisive style of ar- gument . His argument in ...
... idea of an innately flawed but wonderfully rich human nature is a force for good , not evil . " -Colin McGinn , The Washington Post " Steven Pinker is a man of encyclopedic knowledge and an incisive style of ar- gument . His argument in ...
Page iii
... idea that any knowledge about our- selves can only enhance our ability to act well and compassionately - would not have had to be written . In this climate , however , we should be grateful that it was . " -Daniel Smith , The Boston ...
... idea that any knowledge about our- selves can only enhance our ability to act well and compassionately - would not have had to be written . In this climate , however , we should be grateful that it was . " -Daniel Smith , The Boston ...
Page iv
... idea is inherited similarity — the ' psychological unity of our species . ' It is not a blank slate but a slate with a face- a face that might be called human nature . When Pinker starts describing it , the reader will surely recognize ...
... idea is inherited similarity — the ' psychological unity of our species . ' It is not a blank slate but a slate with a face- a face that might be called human nature . When Pinker starts describing it , the reader will surely recognize ...
Page viii
... idea , and I will try to unsnarl the moral and political rat's nests that have entangled the idea along the way . Though no book on human nature can hope to be uncontroversial , I did not write it to be yet another " explosive " book ...
... idea , and I will try to unsnarl the moral and political rat's nests that have entangled the idea along the way . Though no book on human nature can hope to be uncontroversial , I did not write it to be yet another " explosive " book ...
Page x
... idea of writing this book when I started a collection of astonishing claims from pundits and social critics about the malleability of the human psyche : that lit- tle boys quarrel and fight because they are encouraged to do so ; that ...
... idea of writing this book when I started a collection of astonishing claims from pundits and social critics about the malleability of the human psyche : that lit- tle boys quarrel and fight because they are encouraged to do so ; that ...
Contents
The Official Theory | 5 |
Silly Putty | 14 |
The Last Wall to Fall | 30 |
Culture Vultures | 59 |
The Slates Last Stand | 73 |
Fear and Loathing | 103 |
Political Scientists | 105 |
The Holy Trinity | 121 |
Out of Our Depths | 219 |
The Many Roots of Our Suffering | 241 |
The Sanctimonious Animal | 269 |
Hot Buttons | 281 |
Politics | 283 |
Violence | 306 |
Gender | 337 |
Children | 372 |
Human Nature with a Human Face | 137 |
The Fear of Inequality | 141 |
The Fear of Imperfectibility | 159 |
The Fear of Determinism | 174 |
The Fear of Nihilism | 186 |
Know Thyself | 195 |
In Touch with Reality | 197 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
ability American animals argue become behavior believe better biology Blank Slate body brain called Cambridge cause century Chapter child claim cognitive comes common complex concept cortex course culture effects emotions environment equality evolution evolutionary evolved example experience explain fact fear feel genes genetic give human nature idea identical images individual innate intellectual intelligence interests kind language learning less living logic look male Marxism Mass matter means mental mind moral objects organism parents person Pinker political Press problem psychology punishment rape reason recent responsibility scientists selection sense sexual share similar social society species theory things thought tion traits turn understanding University University Press values violence visual Wilson women wrote York
References to this book
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic ... Eva Jablonka,Marion J. Lamb No preview available - 2005 |
Introduction to Psycholinguistics, 2/e, An Danny D Steinberg,Natalia V. Sciarini No preview available - 2006 |