The Blank Slate

In The Blank Slate Steven Pinker one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind explores the idea of human nature and its moral emotional and political colorings. With characteristic wit lucidity and insight Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits - a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century - denies our common humanity and our individual preferences replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans and distorts our understanding of politics violence parenting and the arts.Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense.NOTE: Some changes to the original text have been made with the author's approval.