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 many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
By exploring the political and moral colorings of discoveries about what makes us tick, we can have a more honest science and… — 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
The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The recent failure of democracy to take hold in many African and Islamic states is a reminder that a change in the… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
In the 1970s, many intellectuals had become political radicals. Marxism was correct, liberalism was for wimps, and Marx had pronounced that 'the… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
My politics were pretty anarchistic until 1969 when the Montreal police went on strike. Within hours, mayhem and rioting broke out and… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
A decent government with an effective, but not gratuitously violent, police force and a fair court system are essential. This deters and… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Dominance in an adaptation to anarchy and it serves no purpose in a society that has undergone a civilising process or in… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
People have long assumed that violence is necessary for political change. Rulers never cede power voluntarily, the argument goes, so progressives have… — 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… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Feminism as a movement for political and social equity is important, but feminism as an academic clique committed to eccentric doctrines about… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“Another surprising consequence of kin solidarity is that the family is a subversive organization. That conclusion flies in the face of the… — 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
