“ If the multiverse turns out to be the best explanation of the fundamental physical constants, it would not be the first time we have been flabbergasted by worlds beyond our noses. Our ancestors had to… Steven Pinker
“ As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones. Steven Pinker
“ It's natural to think that living things must be the handiwork of a designer. But it was also natural to think that the sun went around the earth. Overcoming naive impressions to figure out how things… Steven Pinker
“ Many artists and scholars have pointed out that ultimately art depends on human nature. Steven Pinker
“ When it comes to correct English, there's no one in charge; the lunatics are running the asylum. Steven Pinker
“ George Williams, the revered evolutionary biologist, describes the natural world as grossly immoral. Having no foresight or compassion, natural selection can honestly be described as a process for max… Steven Pinker
“ There is no society ever discovered in the remotest corner of the world that has not had something that we would consider the arts. Visual arts - decoration of surfaces and bodies - appears to be a hu… Steven Pinker
“ Statisticians tell us that people underestimate the sheer number of coincidences that are bound to happen in a world governed by chance. Steven Pinker
“ There has to be innate circuitry that does the learning, that creates the culture, that acquires the culture, and that responds to socialization. Steven Pinker
“ Technology, ideology, and social and cultural changes periodically throw out new forms of violence for humanity to contend with. Steven Pinker
“ Jews are known for many things, but strength, swiftness, and agility are not among them. There is one trait, as controversial as it is familiar, for which Jews are above all known, and that is shrewdn… Steven Pinker
“ Can reason lead us in directions that are good or decent or moral? After all, you pointed out that reason is just a means to an end, and the end depends on the reasoner's passions. Reason can lay out… Steven Pinker
“ We really are creatures of a violent world, biologically speaking - watching violence and learning about it is one of our cognitive drives. Steven Pinker
“ One of my favourite kinds of movie is the American picaresque, in which the characters make their way across the country, learning about life against the gorgeous backdrops of that vast land. Steven Pinker
“ The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during the Enlightenment and during the framing of the American Constituti… Steven Pinker
“ Reason is overrated. Many pundits have argued that a good heart and steadfast moral clarity are superior to triangulations of overeducated policy wonks, like the best and brightest and that dragged us… Steven Pinker
“ Human nature is complex. Even if we do have inclinations toward violence, we also have inclination to empathy, to cooperation, to self-control. Steven Pinker
“ I think that a failure of statistical thinking is the major intellectual shortcoming of our universities, journalism and intellectual culture. Steven Pinker
“ The rules of friendship are tacit, unconscious; they are not rational. In business, though, you have to think rationally. Steven Pinker
“ America had, for one thing, lived in anarchy for - until much more recently than Europe. We had the Wild West, where the cliche of the cowboy movies was the nearest sheriff is 90 miles away, and so yo… Steven Pinker
