How rational is Steven Pinker’s world?
The psychologist and writer is fighting an increasingly lonely battle against fanaticism
How rational is Steven Pinker’s world?
The psychologist and writer is fighting an increasingly lonely battle against fanaticism
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Short comment: Every college student should read this book. It’s a modern classic.