The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Steven Pinker
For several centuries, many intellectuals have tried to establish the principles of justice, based on the belief that a person is born with a "blank slate", on which parents and society write his biography. Many authors are desperately trying to discredit the assumption of the innate nature of human properties, because if people are born different, then discrimination and racism are justified, if a person is a product of biology, then free will is just a myth, and life has no higher meaning and purpose. Pinker convincingly shows that the failure to analyze the issues of human nature not only contradicts modern discoveries in genetics, neuroscience and evolutionary theory, but also distorts our understanding of ourselves. Are intelligence and talent inherited? Is it possible to eradicate violence in relations between people and states? Is there free will, and with it, responsibility for one's actions? Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker discusses these questions in one of his most influential books.
