Genetically influenced behavior is not necessarily good and not necessarily unchangeable. Explanations of bad behavior that appeal to genes do not absolve… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Evolution is an indispensable component of any satisfying explanation of our psychology. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Thinking is a physical process, the human brain is not exempt from evolution — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Many people think that the theory of the selfish gene says that “animals try to spread their genes.” That misstates the facts… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Today we recognize that the emotion of disgust evolved as an unconscious defense against biological contamination.” — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Something about the topic of consciousness makes people, like the White Queen in Through The Looking Glass, believe six impossible things before… — 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
“A design can excel at one challenge only by compromising at others.” — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Perhaps we should rejoice that people’s emotions aren’t designed for the good of the group. Often the best way to benefit one’s… — 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
“Many textbooks point out that no animal has evolved wheels and cite the fact as an example of how evolution is often… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“It looks as if the offspring have eyes so that they can see well (bad, teleological, backward causation), but that's an illusion.… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Even evolutionary explanations of the traditional division of labor by sex do not imply that it is unchangeable, “natural” in the sense… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Natural selection is not the only process that changes organisms over time. But is the only process that seemingly designs organisms over… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Thinking is computation, I claim, but that does not mean that the computer is a good metaphor for the mind. The mind… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The Darwinian approach to sex is often attacked as being antifeminist, but that is just wrong. Indeed, the accusation is baffling on… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Of course the theory of evolution would be vacuous if it offered a glib explanation for every inexplicable act. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Space and force pervade language. Many cognitive scientists (including me) have concluded from their research on language that a handful of concepts… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Human evolution, at first, seems extraordinary. How could the process that gave rise to slugs and oak trees and fish produce a… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
It's the old idea that the process of evolution is some push in the direction of greater complexity--in particular greater intellectual complexity.… — 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 Image
Consistent style prevents presentation from getting in the way of content. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
