The Blank Slate
ISBN 0-670-03151-8 | |
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature is a best-selling 2002 book by the cognitive psychologist
Summary
Pinker argues that modern science has challenged three "linked dogmas" that constitute the dominant view of human nature in intellectual life:
- the blank slate (the mind has no innate traits)—empiricism
- the noble savage (people are born good and corrupted by society)—romanticism
- the ghost in the machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology)—dualism[1]
Much of the book is dedicated to examining fears of the social and political consequences of his view of human nature:
- "the fear of inequality"
- "the fear of imperfectibility"
- "the fear of determinism"
- "the fear of nihilism"
Pinker claims these fears are
Pinker states that evolutionary and genetic inequality arguments do not necessarily support right-wing policies. For example, if everyone is equal in ability it can be argued that it is only necessary to give everyone equal opportunity. On the other hand, if some people have less innate ability, then redistribution policies should favor those with less innate ability. Further,
Pinker also gives several examples of harm done by the belief in a blank slate of human nature:
- Totalitarian social engineering. If the human mind is a blank slate completely formed by the environment, then ruthlessly and totally controlling every aspect of the environment will create perfect minds.
- Inappropriate or excessive blame of parents since if their children do not turn out well this is assumed to be entirely environmentally caused and especially due to the behavior of the parents.
- Release of dangerous psychopathswho quickly commit new crimes.
- Construction of massive and dreary tenement complexes since housing and environmental preferences are assumed to be culturally caused and superficial.
- Persecution and even mass murder of the successful who are assumed to have gained unfairly. This includes not only individuals but entire successful groups who are assumed to have become successful unfairly and by exploitation of other groups. Examples include kulaks in the Soviet Union; teachers and "rich" peasants in the Cultural Revolution; city dwellers and intellectuals under the Khmer Rouge.
Reception
Positive
Psychologist David Buss stated "This may be the most important book so far published in the 21st century."[2]
Psychologist David P. Barash wrote "Pinker's thinking and writing are first-rate ... maybe even better than that."[3]
Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins stated "The Blank Slate is ... a stylish piece of work. I won't say it is better than The Language Instinct or How the Mind Works, but it is as good—which is very high praise indeed."[4]
Philosopher Daniel Dennett wrote "[Pinker] wades resolutely into the comforting gloom surrounding these not quite forbidden topics and calmly, lucidly marshals the facts to ground his strikingly subversive Darwinian claims—subversive not of any of the things we properly hold dear but subversive of the phony protective layers of misinformation surrounding them."[4]
Yale psychology professor Paul Bloom endorsed the book in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, writing that it will have "an impact that extends well beyond the scientific academy".[5][6]
English philosopher A. C. Grayling wrote in Literary Review that "Pinker's case is convincing and cogent, and he does a service in presenting the arguments, and the associated scientific evidence, in such an accessible fashion. Given the importance of the questions he discusses, his book is required reading".[6]
Magazine Kirkus Reviews wrote that the book makes "a rich, sophisticated argument that may leave pious souls a little uneasy".[7]
In 2017, Malhar Mali wrote a review of the book in Aero Magazine, expressing concern for what he sees as a revival of the blank slate view of human development. Mali writes "it strikes me as troubling that there are still those of us who are willing to believe that it is mostly culture and society which shape the individual—and that by focusing only on fixing our systems can we alleviate human suffering", and that it is "concerning is that this book came out 15 years ago and yet we are still bogged down in the conversations that Pinker spent a considerable time in rebutting".[8]
Negative
Philosopher John Dupré argued that the book overstated the case for biological explanations and argued for a balanced approach.[12]
Biologist H. Allen Orr argued that Pinker's work often lacks scientific rigor, and suggests that it is "soft science".[13]
Anthropologist
Like Eriksen, Louis Menand, writing for The New Yorker, also claimed that Pinker's arguments constituted a strawman fallacy, stating "[m]any pages of The Blank Slate are devoted to bashing away at the Lockean-Rousseauian-Cartesian scarecrow that Pinker has created." Menand notes that Pinker misquotes and misunderstands Virginia Woolf as saying "In or about December 1910, human nature changed," (Pinker's response was "Woolf was wrong. Human nature did not change in 1910, or in any year thereafter.") Woolf actually wrote "On or about December 1910 human character changed," and she was writing about fiction, critiquing literary realism compared to the modernist movement.[16]
See also
References
- ^ Steven Pinker. "Steven Pinker - Books - The Blank Slate". Pinker.wjh.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2011-05-10. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
- ^ Dr. David M. Buss (January–March 2003). "Book Review - The Nature of Human Nature: The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature" (PDF). Pathways: The Novartis Journal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-27.
- ^ David P. Barash (2002). "Turning the Tables on the Tabula Rasa" (PDF). Human Nature Review. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-27.
- ^ a b Steven Pinker. "Steven Pinker - Books - The Blank Slate - Review Excerpts". Pinker.wjh.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
- S2CID 36920687.
- ^ a b "Reviews for The Blank Slate". stevenpinker.com. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ^ THE BLANK SLATE | Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ "15 Years Later, Why Do We Still Believe in the Blank Slate?". Areo. 2017-08-03. Archived from the original on 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
- ^ Schlinger, Henry D. (2004). "The Almost Blank Slate". Skeptic Magazine. 11 (2).
- S2CID 144183079.
- ^ Behavior.org
- ^ Dupré, John (2003). ""Making Hay with Straw Men", Review of Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
- ^ Orr, H. Allen (2003-02-27). "Darwinian Storytelling". New York Review of Books. Vol. 50, no. 3.
- S2CID 161464139.
- S2CID 170605152.
- ^ Menand, Louis (2002-11-22). "What Comes Naturally". The New Yorker.
External links
- Pinker's website on The Blank Slate
- Meet the Flintstones by Simon Blackburn, a critical review of The Blank Slate.
- The Great Debate Articles - Newcastle University debate on The Blank Slate and other topics.
- The Blank slate - Article by Pinker in General Psychologist, Vol. 41, No.1, Spring 2006