Reviews
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (2002)
Creators |
Steven Pinker (writer). |
Subject |
An expansion upon the last chapter of The Language Instinct (1994), on the idea of human minds as empty containers at birth. |
Commentary |
This was my first experience with Pinker. Though he has since made some poorly founded political comments, this was eye-opening. The concept of the blank slate remains influential. Pinker could have been even more careful charting the spectrum of actual beliefs to avoid accusations of straw-manning, but you need to recognize at least the basic form of the concept to understand Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), most parenting advice, and—in my own experience—a whole lot of academic writing in the humanities. |