In this title, Steven Pinker makes explicit the argument which has been a backdrop to his previous books and many other popular science titles. He argues that much of our social commentary, conventional wisdom, and academic orthodoxy is wrongly rooted in the doctrines of the noble savage (civilisation is the source of human corruption) and the blank slate (the mind has no innate structure; all thoughts and feelings seep into our heads from surrounding culture). He explores the impact of these notions on our attitudes to sexuality, ideology, political correctness and the arts, and insists that we need to be more honest about human nature.
The Blank Slate
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Amazon Review
In The Blank Slate, the bestselling author Steven Pinker produces his most polemical and convincing attack upon the nurture side of the nature versus nurture debate. Pinker's previous books The Language Instinctand How the Mind Works have already attracted huge praise and controversy in arguing that language and cognition are natural rather than cultural. In The Blank Slate he refines and extends his arguments.
The book is aimed at "people who wonder where the taboo against human nature came from", and promises to explain "the moral, emotional and political colorings of the concept of human nature in modern life". For Pinker, the belief that we are all born as "blank slates" upon which culture places its decisive imprint is not only wrong but dangerous. He persuasively argues that "the conviction that humanity could be reshaped by massive social engineering projects led to some of the greatest atrocities in history". This is all very well, but at over 500 pages it can also be daunting for the general reader, as Pinker takes on all-comers, from biologists and sociologists to a dizzying array of classical thinkers from Calvin and Hobbes to Marx and Dawkins. The sections on gender will undoubtedly inflame many feminist writers (the most persuasive of which Pinker sadly neglects to discuss), and the criticisms of modern art are flimsy, but The Blank Slate is an impressive and sustained broadside that cannot be ignored. -–Jerry Brotton
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Pinker challenges conventional wisdom that our thoughts and feelings seep into our heads from the surrounding culture.
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First Sentence
"BLANK SLATE" is a loose translation of the medieval Latin term tabula rasa-literally, "scraped tablet." Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"BLANK SLATE" is a loose translation of the medieval Latin term tabula rasa-literally, "scraped tablet." Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 63 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This profound book examines 3 doctrines: The Blank Slate (no human nature), The Noble Savage (no selfish or evil instincts), and The Ghost in the Machine (independent existence of the mind from the body/brain).
Steven Pinker elegantly presents the evidence against these views, sometimes in concise and quite overwhelmingly devastating lists.
In a small way this subject matter is similar to J.Diamond's 'The 3rd Chimpanzee' or E.O. Wilson's 'Consilience'- showing that we are imperfect products of evolution, limited in knowledge and wisdom, tempted by status and power, and blinded by self-deception and delusions of moral superiority.
If this were all the book was about it would still be fascinating reading. Fortunately however, Pinker has gone two steps further, thus making this book a landmark in the Nature/Nurture debate.
Firstly he explains that the reason why so many people (Postmodernists, Marxists, Gender Feminists etc) want to believe in these 3 doctrines is based on fears of inequality, determinism, imperfectability, and nihilism. He examines each of these fears and demonstrates that they are based on a poverty of understanding of human nature (the 3 doctrines), a myriad of fallacies and non sequiturs, a lack of understanding of ethics, and moralistic self-displays.
Secondly, in agreement with Chekhov's 'Man will become better when you show him what he is like', Pinker gives powerful and sensible arguments how an accurate understanding of human nature would aid in the reduction of violence & oppression and increase human happiness. They are a real and timely intellectual treat, brimming with positive potential of application.
For those new to evolutionary psychology I would recommend that they first read Pinker's 'How the Mind Works' or Robert Wright's 'The Moral Animal'.
It would be an understatement to say that this book is eye-opening. I would regard this book as essential reading to those that think that the Greek's advice 'Know thyself' is sage.
Steven Pinker elegantly presents the evidence against these views, sometimes in concise and quite overwhelmingly devastating lists.
In a small way this subject matter is similar to J.Diamond's 'The 3rd Chimpanzee' or E.O. Wilson's 'Consilience'- showing that we are imperfect products of evolution, limited in knowledge and wisdom, tempted by status and power, and blinded by self-deception and delusions of moral superiority.
If this were all the book was about it would still be fascinating reading. Fortunately however, Pinker has gone two steps further, thus making this book a landmark in the Nature/Nurture debate.
Firstly he explains that the reason why so many people (Postmodernists, Marxists, Gender Feminists etc) want to believe in these 3 doctrines is based on fears of inequality, determinism, imperfectability, and nihilism. He examines each of these fears and demonstrates that they are based on a poverty of understanding of human nature (the 3 doctrines), a myriad of fallacies and non sequiturs, a lack of understanding of ethics, and moralistic self-displays.
Secondly, in agreement with Chekhov's 'Man will become better when you show him what he is like', Pinker gives powerful and sensible arguments how an accurate understanding of human nature would aid in the reduction of violence & oppression and increase human happiness. They are a real and timely intellectual treat, brimming with positive potential of application.
For those new to evolutionary psychology I would recommend that they first read Pinker's 'How the Mind Works' or Robert Wright's 'The Moral Animal'.
It would be an understatement to say that this book is eye-opening. I would regard this book as essential reading to those that think that the Greek's advice 'Know thyself' is sage.
48 of 51 people found the following review helpful
By John James
Format:Paperback
The 'blank slate' of the title is the human mind at birth, a view held, often implicitly, by our modern society, which has been conditioned to accept this by religions, progressive educationists, and the left in general. Those who hold the opposing view, that much of our nature is inherited, are subjected to frequent and vicious personal attacks (see the reviews of this book).
Pinker, however, is made of stern stuff, and has put a large explosive device under his opponents with this book based, as it is, on carefully documented research and grounded in appropriate theory. He ranges from genetics to computational linguistics via neurology and statistical theory in dazzling fashion.
It might seem that the weight of evidence gathered might cause the book to be heavy going, but the writing is sharper, and the touch is lighter and more humorous than anyone has a right to expect. As an example, consider the following, after a discussion on the effects of ageing: "Forget 'As the twig is bent, so the tree grows', think 'Omigod, I'm turning into my parents'".
While there are parts to the book which some will question, Pinker has turned the searchlights of reason and common sense on much of the political correctness of our time, showing how ludicrous most of it is, and showing also how science is beginning to give us a better understanding of what is meant by 'human nature'. If 'the proper study of mankind is man' then this is the essential primer.
Pinker, however, is made of stern stuff, and has put a large explosive device under his opponents with this book based, as it is, on carefully documented research and grounded in appropriate theory. He ranges from genetics to computational linguistics via neurology and statistical theory in dazzling fashion.
It might seem that the weight of evidence gathered might cause the book to be heavy going, but the writing is sharper, and the touch is lighter and more humorous than anyone has a right to expect. As an example, consider the following, after a discussion on the effects of ageing: "Forget 'As the twig is bent, so the tree grows', think 'Omigod, I'm turning into my parents'".
While there are parts to the book which some will question, Pinker has turned the searchlights of reason and common sense on much of the political correctness of our time, showing how ludicrous most of it is, and showing also how science is beginning to give us a better understanding of what is meant by 'human nature'. If 'the proper study of mankind is man' then this is the essential primer.
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The Blank Slate is the most interesting and challenging book I have read this year. Pinker claims that our abilities and behavioural tendencies are heritable and less influenced by society than is currently accepted. He moves on to examine how this affects our political affiliations, religion, gender issues and child development. He’s occasionally guilty of academic one-upmanship and nit-picking and is undeniably US-centric in terms of his cultural analysis; no other Western nations have adopted the extremism of American feminists, for example, but is otherwise coherent and compassionate.
I agree with Pinker that discussions of race and gender lead to extreme, knee-jerk responses and that over-simplification of issues and mud slinging does nothing to progress our understanding. The chapter on gender, for example, asserts that men and women are different and that these differences are consistent, though may be more or less extreme, across cultures. This isn’t news to me and I don’t feel that Pinker is dictating how people ‘ought’ to behave depending on their sex, race etc. He emphasises throughout that ‘natural’ doesn’t mean inevitable or right and that most us have the capacity to understand our impulses and moderate our behaviour.
I don’t agree with everything Pinker claims, in particular the chapter on art is tosh (I don’t think you have to intellectualise all modern art to feel an emotional response to it – Guernica, anybody?), but I don’t think he’s a right wing apologist either. Let’s have more rational discussion on these issues, without demonising people who dare suggest that people aren’t born angels.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A concise reading
A good starting reading for those interested in evolutionary issues in social sciences. Easy to read, good bibliography. I was satisfied.
Published 4 months ago by Rasa
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bring your brain!
Demanding and absorbing book that brings us up to date with human sciences and their bearing on our self image.
Published 5 months ago by New Jam
4.0 out of 5 stars
In Defence of Behavioural Genetics
In essence this book allays the fears of biological explanations of the mind and challenges the ideological standpoints that can spring-forth when social scientists try to exorcise... Read more
Published 10 months ago by nicholas hargreaves
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy stuff!
I did read The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker as a paperback, but still it was so heavy at times that I did not have strength to read it more than half an hour at a time at some... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Wallenius Jaakko
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fundementally important book
In my view this is probably one of the most important books to have been written so far about the human condition. Why? Read more
Published 16 months ago by Jonathan
3.0 out of 5 stars
The outsider
Blank Slate is a defence of, for want of a better term, pseudo-genetic determinism. Pinker argues that while genetic research has not reached an appropriate level of knowledge to... Read more
Published 17 months ago by markss
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not controversial enough !
This book presents Stevens' conclusions about the role of hereditary in human behavior, based on his reading of the literature. Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. Penfold
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent account of nature/nurture
The interrelationship between nature and nurture is an endlessly intriguing and controversial subject. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2011 by anozama
1.0 out of 5 stars
A blank slate indeed
Sociobiology is a branch of Neo-Darwinian evolutionary biology which became controversial about 35 years ago, when some scientists started applying it to humans. Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2010 by Ashtar Command
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book
conversant, extroverted, fluid, charming, and also a bit too speculative. in blessings and curses, this truly is a magnificent book
Published on 9 Oct 2010 by asp
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