Most intellectuals today have a phobia of any explanation of the mind that invokes genetics. Steven Pinker explanationgeneticintellectual Change image and share on social
I think the reason that swearing is both so offensive and so attractive is that it is a way to push people's emotional buttons, and especially their negative emotional buttons. Because words soak up emotional connotations and are processed involuntarily by the listener, you can't will yourself not to treat the word in terms of what it means. Steven Pinker attractivebuttonconnotation share on social
20th-century totalitarian movements were no more defined by a rejection of Judeo-Christianity than they were defined by a rejection of astrology, alchemy, Confucianism, Scientology, or any of hundreds of other belief systems. Steven Pinker 20thalchemyastrology share on social
Human evolution, at first, seems extraordinary. How could the process that gave rise to slugs and oak trees and fish produce a creature that can fly to the moon and invent the Internet and cross the ocean in boats? Steven Pinker boatcreaturecross share on social
Parents provide their children with genes as well as an environment, so the fact that talkative parents have kids with good language skills could simply mean that and that the same genes that make parents talkative make children articulate. Steven Pinker articulatechildenvironment share on social
Though as a psychologist I like to think that nothing human is foreign to me, I admit to having been repeatedly flabbergasted by the insouciance, and sometimes relish, with which our ancestors carried out and witnessed unspeakable cruelties. Steven Pinker admitancestorcarry share on social
In the 1970s, many intellectuals had become political radicals. Marxism was correct, liberalism was for wimps, and Marx had pronounced that 'the ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.' Steven Pinker 1970sageclass share on social
Today we take it for granted that war happens in smaller, poorer and more backward countries. Steven Pinker backwardcountrygrant Change image and share on social
It's misleading to essentialize an entire society as if it were a single mind. Steven Pinker entireessentializemind Change image and share on social
Equity feminism is a moral doctrine about equal treatment that makes no commitments regarding open empirical issues in psychology or biology. Steven Pinker biologycommitmentdoctrine Change image and share on social