Politics Quotes by Steven Pinker

In the 1970s, many intellectuals had become political radicals. Marxism was correct, liberalism was for wimps, and Marx had pronounced that 'the…

— Steven Pinker

“The recent failure of democracy to take hold in many African and Islamic states is a reminder that a change in the…

— Steven Pinker

By exploring the political and moral colorings of discoveries about what makes us tick, we can have a more honest science and…

— Steven Pinker

The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during…

— Steven Pinker

As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones.

— Steven Pinker

Everywhere you look for comparisons of life under anarchy and life under government, life under government is less violent.

— Steven Pinker

“I suggested that a better understanding of human nature in the light of modern science can point the way to an approach…

— Steven Pinker

“Many politicians and preachers defended slavery, citing the Bible’s approval of the practice, the inferiority of the African race, the value of…

— Steven Pinker

When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power…

— Steven Pinker

My politics were pretty anarchistic until 1969 when the Montreal police went on strike. Within hours, mayhem and rioting broke out and…

— Steven Pinker

A decent government with an effective, but not gratuitously violent, police force and a fair court system are essential. This deters and…

— Steven Pinker

People have long assumed that violence is necessary for political change. Rulers never cede power voluntarily, the argument goes, so progressives have…

— Steven Pinker

Dominance in an adaptation to anarchy and it serves no purpose in a society that has undergone a civilising process or in…

— Steven Pinker

We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be…

— Steven Pinker

“One-on-one revenge was common in foraging societies, and kin-against-kin blood feuds were common in tribal societies that had not been pacified by…

— Steven Pinker

“Many criminologists believe that the source of the state’s pacifying effect isn’t just its brute coercive power but the trust it commands…

— Steven Pinker

“I am sometimes asked, "How do you know there won't be a war tomorrow (or a genocide, or an act of terrorism)…

— Steven Pinker

Feminism as a movement for political and social equity is important, but feminism as an academic clique committed to eccentric doctrines about…

— Steven Pinker

“Another surprising consequence of kin solidarity is that the family is a subversive organization. That conclusion flies in the face of the…

— Steven Pinker