Morality is not just any old topic in psychology but close to our conception of the meaning of life. Moral goodness is… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
One of my favourite kinds of movie is the American picaresque, in which the characters make their way across the country, learning… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile… — 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
Everywhere you look for comparisons of life under anarchy and life under government, life under government is less violent. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“As an Auyana man living in New Guinea under the Pax Australiana put it, “Life was better since the government came” because… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
One of the things that people complain about is loneliness, disconnectedness. If you live in a society where your life is rarely… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The human capacity for compassion is not a reflex that is triggered automatically by the presence of another living thing. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The doctrine of the sacredness of the soul sounds vaguely uplifting, but in fact is highly malignant. It discounts life on earth… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
In the past two decades anthropologists have gathered data on life and death in pre-state societies rather than accepting the warm and… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Being smarter gives you a tailwind throughout life. People who are more intelligent earn more, live longer, get divorced less, are less… — 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
“More to the point, what was the lesson that the first Christians drew from crucifixion? Today such a barbarity might galvanize people… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
If the cartoon were completely accurate, though, life would be a cacophany of spoinks. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The doctrine of the sacredness of the soul sounds vaguely uplifting, but in fact is highly malignant. It discounts life on earth… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Broadly speaking, the Southern and Western desert and mountain states will vote for the candidate who endorses an aggressive military, a role… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Knowing there is a world that will outlive you, there are people whose well-being depends on how you live your life, affects… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
It's natural to think that living things must be the handiwork of a designer. But it was also natural to think that… — 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 stuff of life turned out to be not a quivering, glowing, wondrous gel but a contraption of tiny jigs, springs, hinges,… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Cas Wouters, inspired by conversations with Elias late in his life, suggests that we are living through a new phase in the… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“If a person did all the work of a slave but had the option of quitting at any time without being physically… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“It's natural to think that living things must be the handiwork of a designer. But it was also natural to think that… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“In allowing the crucifixion to take place, God did the world an incalculable favor. Though infinitely powerful, compassionate, and wise, he could… — 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
