The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
by Stephen Pinker
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.
Category: Discovering Our Distant Ancestors“Sweeping, erudite, sharply argued, and fun to read..also highly persuasive.“ —Time
“An extremely good book-clear, well argued, fair, learned, tough, witty, humane, stimulating.“ —The Washington Post
“Pinker makes his main argument persuasively and with great verve…ought to be read by anybody who feels they hav had enough of the nature-nurture rows.” —The Economist
“Stylish…what a superb thinker and writer he is.“ —Richard Dawkins, TLS
“Required reading…an unanswerable case for accepting that man can be, as he is, both wired and free.“ —Frederick Raphael, Los Angeles Times
- All Books by Section
- Book Reports from Our Contributors (42)
- Books Referenced in Human Journey Sections:
- Journey of the Human Mind (7)
- Discovering Our Distant Ancestors (34)
- The Evolution of Language (18)
- Ideas that Shaped Our Modern World (117)
- Tools and the Development of Contemporary Society (33)
- A Sustainable Planet (25)
- The Changing World Economy (34)
- Health and Education in the Modern World (34)
- Our Mind in the Modern World (24)
More Books to Explore
