Category: Steven Pinker
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How rational is Steven Pinker’s world?
The psychologist and writer is fighting an increasingly lonely battle against fanaticism
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How rational is Steven Pinker’s world?
The psychologist and writer is fighting an increasingly lonely battle against fanaticism
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Enlightenment Now is out, so there goes my weekend….
Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress is now out. I plan on reading it this weekend front to back. Over the past few years, it’s not a secret that I’ve become more skeptical of the possibilities for humanism and progress. The case for reason and science are obviously clear,…
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The New York Times on violence and Pinker
The New York Times has a short piece on Steven Pinker up. Nothing too new to long time followers of the man and his work. I would like to point readers to the fact that Steven Pinker has a F.A.Q. up for The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. He links to my…
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Relative angels and absolute demons
My post below defending Steve Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature elicited some responses on twitter. Robert Lee Hotz finds it odd that I defend a book I haven’t read. My logic here is simple: the outline of the argument in The Better Angels of Our Nature has been presented in shorter form. John…
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But peace does reign!
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined is finally out. I can’t read it in the near future because of time constraint, but I’m heartened that a public intellectual of Steven Pinker’s stature is finally making people more aware of the fact that in some ways the world is better than it…
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The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
Short comment: An often forgotten gem in Steven Pinker’s oeuvre. More technical than The Blank Slate.
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The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Short comment: Every college student should read this book. It’s a modern classic.