Episode 44, The Steven Pinker Interview

In 'Enlightenment Now', Steven Pinker presents a comprehensive argument that the values of the Enlightenment—reason, science, and humanism—have been instrumental in the progress of human society. He challenges the prevailing pessimism in modern discourse by presenting empirical evidence that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise globally. Pinker uses data and graphs to illustrate improvements in various aspects of human life, such as increased life expectancy, reduced child and maternal mortality, and advancements in medicine and technology. He also addresses the psychological biases that lead people to underestimate these improvements and emphasizes the importance of continuing to uphold Enlightenment ideals to ensure further progress.

In *The Stuff of Thought*, Steven Pinker delves into the intricacies of language to uncover insights about human nature. He examines how words reflect our thoughts and emotions, discussing topics such as metaphors, taboos, and the relationship between language and thought. Pinker argues that language is a window into human nature, revealing both universal and culturally specific aspects of human cognition.

In this book, Steven Pinker argues that language is an innate human ability, produced by evolution to solve the problem of communication among social hunter-gatherers. He explains how language works, how children learn it, how it changes, and how the brain computes it. Pinker refutes common ideas such as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis and the notion that language is a human invention. He supports his argument with examples from linguistics, psychology, and popular culture, emphasizing that language is a specialized 'mental module' rather than a mark of advanced intelligence. The book also includes updates on advances in the science of language since its initial publication.

In this book, Steven Pinker delves into the workings of the human mind, addressing questions such as why we are rational yet often irrational, how we perceive the world, and the origins of emotions, social interactions, and higher cognitive functions. Pinker synthesizes insights from cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and other fields to explain how the mind evolved to solve the problems faced by our ancestors. He discusses topics like vision, emotion, social behavior, and the mysteries of consciousness, arguing for a computational theory of mind and an adaptationist approach to evolution.

In this book, Steven Pinker presents a detailed argument that violence has significantly decreased over the course of human history. He uses extensive data and statistical analysis to demonstrate this decline in various domains, including military conflict, homicide, genocide, torture, and the treatment of children, homosexuals, animals, and racial and ethnic minorities. Pinker identifies four key human motivations – empathy, self-control, the moral sense, and reason – as the 'better angels' that have oriented humans away from violence and towards cooperation and altruism. He also discusses historical forces such as the rise of the state (which he terms 'Leviathan'), the spread of commerce, the growth of feminist values, and the expansion of cosmopolitanism, which have contributed to this decline in violence.

In 'The Expanding Circle', Peter Singer integrates insights from sociobiology and ethics to argue that human altruism, initially driven by genetic instincts to protect kin and community, has evolved into a consciously chosen ethic with an expanding circle of moral concern. Singer contends that our capacity for reason allows us to extend moral consideration beyond biological and social groups to include all beings capable of feeling pleasure or pain. The book discusses the relationship between reason, ethics, and the biological basis of human behavior, and it includes a new afterword in the 2011 edition that reflects on recent research in the field.