“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
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
“Cheesecake packs a sensual wallop unlike anything in the natural world because it is a brew of megadoses of agreeable stimuli which… — 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
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
A hostility to modernity is shared by ideologies that have nothing else in common - a nostalgia for moral clarity, small-town intimacy,… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The unstated premise that nature is nice lies behind many of the objections to the Darwinian theory of human sexuality. Carefree sex… — 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
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
“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
“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
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
“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
Nature is a hanging judge," goes an old saying. Many tragedies come from our physical and cognitive makeup. Our bodies are extraordinarily… — 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
“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
“Apes have a wide variety of sexual arrangements. That means, by the way, that there is no such thing as an “ape… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Mother Teresa was the very embodiment of saintliness: white-clad, sad-eyed, ascetic and often photographed with the wretched of the earth. — 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
Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Galileo wrote that 'the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics; without its help it is impossible to comprehend… — 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
“As you are reading these words, you are taking part in one of the wonders of the natural world. For you and… — 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
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
