Language is a window into human nature, but it is also a fistula, an open wound through which we're exposed to an… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Everyone has a theory of human nature. Everyone has to anticipate the behavior of others, and that means we all need theories… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“I suggested that a better understanding of human nature in the light of modern science can point the way to an approach… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Many artists and scholars have pointed out that ultimately art depends on human nature. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
My opinions about human nature are shared by many psychologists, linguists, and biologists, not to mention philosophers and scholars going back centuries. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
With violence, as with so many other concerns, human nature is the problem, but human nature is also the solution. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Human nature is complex. Even if we do have inclinations toward violence, we also have inclination to empathy, to cooperation, to self-control. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The strongest argument against totalitarianism may be a recognition of a universal human nature; that all humans have innate desires for life,… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The dominant theories of elite art and criticism in the 20th century grew out of a militant denial of human nature. One… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Some people think that evolutionary psychology claims to have discovered that human nature is selfish and wicked. But they are flattering the… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The task of evolutionary psychology is not to weigh in on human nature, a task better left to others. It is to… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The dread of a permanently wicked human nature takes two forms. One is a practical fear: that social reform is a waste… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Some people think that evolutionary psychology claims to have discovered that human nature is selfish and wicked. But they are flattering the… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
But the 20th century suffered "two" ideologies that led to genocides. The other one, Marxism, had no use for race, didn't believe… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Feminism as a movement for political and social equity is important, but feminism as an academic clique committed to eccentric doctrines about… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“I believe that the rape-is-not-about-sex doctrine will go down in history as an example of extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“I find a naturalistic understanding of human nature to be indispensable to leading a wise and mature life, and it is often… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Humans are not innately good (just as they are not innately evil), but they come equipped with motives that can orient them… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The other problem with empathy is that it is too parochial to serve as a force for a universal consideration of people’s… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Though many of my arguments will be coolly analytical — that an acknowledgment of human nature does not, logically speaking, imply the… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Forcing modern speakers of English to not - whoops, not to split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as much… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Consistent style prevents presentation from getting in the way of content. — Steven Pinker Copy Share
The supposedly immaterial soul, we now know, can be bisected with a knife, altered by chemicals, started or stopped by electricity, and extinguished by… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
I've never argued that humans are massively hot-wired. What I was trying to point out was that you can't understand how we learn unless… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones. — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Since violence is largely a male pastime, cultures that empower women tend to move away from the glorification of violence and are less likely… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power to shock.… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Morality is not just any old topic in psychology but close to our conception of the meaning of life. Moral goodness is what gives… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
“The biblical story of the binding of Isaac shows that human sacrifice was far from unthinkable in the 1st millennium BCE. The Israelites boasted… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Part of the bargain of being alive is that one takes a chance at dying a premature or painful death, be it from violence,… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
In fact, without a specification of a creature's goals, the very idea of intelligence is meaningless. A toadstool could be given a genius award… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
“The obvious cure for the tragic shortcomings of human intuition in a high-tech world is education. And this offers priorities for educational policy: to… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
“In some eras, self-control defines the paragon of a decent person: a grown-up, a person of dignity, a lady or a gentleman, a mensch.… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
Knowledge is a continuous fabric, in which ideas are connected to other ideas. Reason-free zones, in which people can assert arbitrary beliefs safe from… — Steven Pinker Copy Share
