--- title: "4 Dominance Quotes By Steven Pinker" description: "4 Dominance quotes by Steven Pinker. Plus more from Steven Pinker and more Dominance sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/634/steven-pinker-526_dominance_the-psychological-components-of-war-have_197235.jpg" --- > [“The psychological components of war have not gone away—dominance, vengeance, callousness, tribalism, groupthink, self-deception”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-psychological-components-of-war-have-not-gone-away-dominance/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/634/steven-pinker-526_dominance_the-psychological-components-of-war-have_197235.jpg) > [Dominance in an adaptation to anarchy and it serves no purpose in a society that has undergone a civilising process or in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/dominance-in-an-adaptation-to-anarchy-and-it-serves-no-purpose-in-a/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d39/steven-pinker-526_adaptation_dominance-in-an-adaptation-to-anarchy-an_2358881.jpg) > [“The goal of argumentation is to make a case so forceful (note the metaphor) that skeptics are coerced into believing it—they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-goal-of-argumentation-is-to-make-a-case-so-forceful-note-the/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/steven-pinker-526_academics_the-goal-of-argumentation-is-to-make-a-c_2766000.jpg) > [Commerce, trade and exchange make other people more valuable alive than dead, and mean that people try to anticipate what the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/commerce-trade-and-exchange-make-other-people-more-valuable-alive/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b4/steven-pinker-526_alive_commerce-trade-and-exchange-make-other-p_2785649.jpg) ## More by Steven Pinker > [Forcing modern speakers of English to not - whoops, not to split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/forcing-modern-speakers-of-english-to-not-whoops-not-to-split-an/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Consistent style prevents presentation from getting in the way of content.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/consistent-style-prevents-presentation-from-getting-in-the-way-of/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [The supposedly immaterial soul, we now know, can be bisected with a knife, altered by chemicals, started or stopped by electricity, and extinguished by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-supposedly-immaterial-soul-we-now-know-can-be-bisected-with-a/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/i-ve-never-argued-that-humans-are-massively-hot-wired-what-i-was/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/as-many-political-writers-have-pointed-out-commitment-to-political/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Since violence is largely a male pastime, cultures that empower women tend to move away from the glorification of violence and are less likely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/since-violence-is-largely-a-male-pastime-cultures-that-empower-women/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power to shock.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/when-it-comes-to-explaining-human-thought-and-behavior-the/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Morality is not just any old topic in psychology but close to our conception of the meaning of life. Moral goodness is what gives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/morality-is-not-just-any-old-topic-in-psychology-but-close-to-our/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“The biblical story of the binding of Isaac shows that human sacrifice was far from unthinkable in the 1st millennium BCE. The Israelites boasted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-biblical-story-of-the-binding-of-isaac-shows-that-human-sacrifice/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Part of the bargain of being alive is that one takes a chance at dying a premature or painful death, be it from violence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/part-of-the-bargain-of-being-alive-is-that-one-takes-a-chance-at/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/in-fact-without-a-specification-of-a-creature-s-goals-the-very-idea/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-obvious-cure-for-the-tragic-shortcomings-of-human-intuition-in-a/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/if-you-look-in-general-at-people-who-live-in-anarchy-they-have-quite/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“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.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/in-some-eras-self-control-defines-the-paragon-of-a-decent-person-a/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/knowledge-is-a-continuous-fabric-in-which-ideas-are-connected-to/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dominance/steven-pinker/#itemlist", "name": "4 Dominance Quotes By Steven Pinker", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The psychological components of war have not gone away—dominance, vengeance, callousness, tribalism, groupthink, self-deception”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Steven Pinker" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-psychological-components-of-war-have-not-gone-away-dominance/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/634/steven-pinker-526_dominance_the-psychological-components-of-war-have_197235.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/634/steven-pinker-526_dominance_the-psychological-components-of-war-have_197235.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/634/steven-pinker-526_dominance_the-psychological-components-of-war-have_197235.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The psychological components of war have not gone away—dominance, vengeance, callousness, tribalism…” — Steven Pinker", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Dominance in an adaptation to anarchy and it serves no purpose in a society that has undergone a civilising process or in an international system regulated by agreements and norms. 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In principle, it is the ideas themselves that are, as we say, compelling, but their champions are not always averse to helping the ideas along with tactics of verbal dominance, among them intimidation (“Clearly . . .”), threat (“It would be unscientific to . . .”), authority (“As Popper showed . . .”), insult (“This work lacks the necessary rigor for . . .”), and belittling (“Few people today seriously believe that . . .”). Perhaps this is why H. L. 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