About this title: Widely acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts on language and the workings of the mind, Pulitzer Prize finalist Pinker has now undertaken the most ambitious and controversial work of his career--a brilliant reexamination of the concept of human nature.
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Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780140276053ISBN:014027605X
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Allen Lane
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780713992564ISBN:0713992565
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780140276053ISBN:014027605X
Description: New. Weekday Orders Sent from Herefordshire UK SAME DAY; NEW; Publishers remainder stamp inside at the front; 10K+ Amazon orders sent out; Cover artwork may differ; read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: BCA
Date Published: 2002
Description: Published by BCA in 2002. Paperback. Condition: Like NEW. No defects, may have been previously read. Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
Edition: First Paperback Edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: BCA
Date Published: 2002
Description: Good. No Jacket. Previously used book. Main body of text clean but extreme outer edges of pages show marks. Jacket marked front and back but no creasing. Slight scuffing to corners. In this book, the author explains why many of today's intellectuals deny the existence of human nature, claiming that each of us is born a blank slate upon which the environment writes, and that these inscriptions define every aspect of who we are. The author shows that this thesis is no longer tenable, nor is it ... read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Edition: First Trade
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Penguin/BCA
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780140276053ISBN:014027605X
Description: Fine. EXCELLENT 2002 LARGE FORMAT BCA/PENGUIN PAPERBACK, STRIKING ORIGINAL COVER & INTRO. COMPREHENSIVE JOURNEY THROUGH MODERN DEBATES AROUND HUMAN NATURE. LIGHT NATURAL AGING ONLY, INNERS UNMARKED. IMMEDIATE 1st Class/Airmail dispatch fromUK HISTORY COLLECTION. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Book Club
Date Published: 2002
Description: New. New PAPERBACK copy, fast delivery. IN STOCK NOW, despatched daily from the UK En Stock, tous les jours de expédiés du Royaume-Uni EN STOCK NOW, despachar diariamente desde el Reino Unido por correo aéreo IN STOCK NOW, auch wenn täglich aus dem Vereinigten Königreich per Luftpost. read more
Description: Published by BCA in 2002, paperback, tall size, covers very good, internally good, stamp on title page. Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: BOOK CLUB ASSOCIATES
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780965491730ISBN:0965491730
Description: Published by BOOK CLUB ASSOCIATES in 2002, 508 pages, reprint, paperback, medium size, covers very good, internally very good. Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
Description: Published by BCA in 2002, 509 pages, paperback, medium size, no D/W, covers good, internally good, without inscription, index. Shipped from UK. Delivery is usually 2-3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Viking
Date Published: 2002-01-01
ISBN-13:9780965491730ISBN:0965491730
Description: Very Good. *Binding is tight and square. Text is clean, bright and unmarked. Has some light edge and corner wear. Careful packaging and fast shipping. read more
"I cannot believe that Pinker is still a Harvard Professor. His apolitically correct views must be getting him in trouble with the PC crowds there. I guess genius in the social sciences allows you to freely express yourself, even in Harvard. Larry Summers must be envious.
Great book, probably the best I've read in the social sciences. Maybe I'm just being swayed by my own confirmation biases, but I learned more about human nature in this book than the wasted times I spent in psychology classes.
Great book, probably the best I've read in the social sciences. Maybe I'm just being swayed by my own confirmation biases, but I learned more about human nature in this book than the numerous wasted time I spent in psych classes."
"I could only make it halfway through this book before being unable to read another page. Honestly, how many people still believe that it's either environment or genes that affect our nature? I would like to think that the majority of people believe it's a factor of both as I do. Genes take you so far and environment does the rest. Anyway, it initially was an interesting idea for a book, so I gave it a read. Pinker was quick to say that environment played a role along with biology, but he really only mentions environment a few times in the whole of 220 pages. He focuses soooo much on biology that he seems just like the people he's trying to deride. I suffered through half of the book before giving up."
"Provocative exploration of genetics, cognition and academic warfare
This book covers a lot of ground: philosophy, genetics, cognition, sociology and academic infighting. Steven Pinker, writing with persuasiveness and craft, shows why the doctrine of the "Blank Slate" became so important to 20th century intellectuals that they were willing to lie, cheat, libel and even threaten those who dissented. Yet, the dissenters were right. Given what science now knows of genetics, the idea that people are blank slates at birth is simply untenable. getAbstract finds that the author, despite a few hints of personal prejudices (ah, there's human nature again), does an excellent job of grappling with enormously challenging subjects."
"Pinker took on the task of challenging two ideas that have shaped (or misshaped) contemporary thought about social issues: the blank slate, the noble savage.And he spends a chapter or two debunking another idea: the ghost in the machine.
The idea that humans are a blank slate, infinitely malleable, with capabilities that are limited only by the environment in which they are raised, is one that is oddly appealing across a broad political spectrum, but especially to a certain variety of neo-Marxists. A blank slate can be molded in socially desirable ways, thus enabling profound social change and improvement. A blank slate could be taught to abjure violence and racism, greed and sloth. Moreover, all blank slates are equal: men and women, and people of all ethnicities would have identical capability.
But humans are evolved creatures, with abilities shaped by that evolutionary history. And being evolved, there are variations in ability between individuals and, possibly, between groups. So basing one's values or political agenda on the idea that such variations are solely induced by culture and environment is risky: what do you do when the science is in and it conflicts with the foundation of your values? Values are values: compassion, empathy, a desire for justice and equality under the law, etc.; none of these depend in any essential way on the idea that every individual is exactly identical in ability.
Pinker gives many examples of evolutionary biologists and ethnologists who have been vilified for publishing their findings, when those findings contradict the blank slate or noble savage presumption. He explains in detail the unreasoning and unreasonable basis of those attacks. He hammers home the idea that (unreasoned) attacks on scientific findings can lead to no good. If public policy is based on false ideas of human nature, bad policy will result."
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