Can I read The Blank Slate : The Modern Denial of Human Nature on EtoBox?

The Blank Slate : The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Pinker, Steven is a psychology available to read on EtoBox.

What is The Blank Slate : The Modern Denial of Human Nature about?

In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. He shows how many intellectuals have denied the existence of human nature by embracing three linked dogmas: the Blank Slate (the mind has no innate traits), the Noble Savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and the Ghost in the Machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology). Each dogma carries a moral burden, so their defenders have engaged in desperate tactics to discredit the scientists who are now challenging them. Pinker injects calm and rationality into these debates by showing that equality, progress, responsibility, and purpose have nothing to fear from discoveries about a rich human nature. He disarms even the most menacing threats with clear thinking, common sense, and pertinent facts from science and history. Despite its popularity among intellectuals during much of the twentieth century, he argues, the doctrine of the Blank Slate may have done more harm than good. It denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces hardheaded analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our unde

Who reads The Blank Slate : The Modern Denial of Human Nature?

Author

Pinker, Steven

Publisher

Penguin Books, Limited

Published

2002

Language

EN

ISBN

9781429521833

Category

psychology

Subjects

Science, Philosophy, Psychology

Rating

4.07 / 5 (15,958 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14