Name: Steven Pinker - Writing In The 21st Century [6.9.14] by Edge Foundation Inc. in steven pinker
Duration: 37 min 2 s
Description: Steven Pinker on Writing In The 21st Century

steven pinker

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Steven Pinker on Writing In The 21st Century

Steven Pinker - Writing In The 21st Century [6.9.14]

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Harvard University professor and FIRE Advisory Council member Steven Pinker is a rockstar academic. He has written 10 books, many of which are bestsellers, including most recently “The Better Angels of our Nature” and “The Sense of Style.” On this episode of So to Speak, we chat with Professor Pinker about free speech, free inquiry, taboo, dangerous ideas, and, of course, his forthcoming book on the Enlightenment: “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.” Here is the recommended reading list provided by Professor Pinker during the podcast:  Immanuel Kant’s “What is the Enlightenment?” Thomas Nagel’s “The Last Word” Jonathan Glover’s “Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century”  www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: sotospeak@thefire.org Call in a question: 215-315-0100

Harvard professor Steven Pinker

The Enlightenment worked, says Steven Pinker.  By promoting reason, science, humanism, progress, and peace, the programs set in motion by the 18th-Century intellectual movement became so successful we’ve lost track of what that success came from.  

Some even discount the success itself, preferring to ignore or deny how much better off humanity keeps becoming, decade after decade, in terms of health, food, money, safety, education, justice, and opportunity.  The temptation is to focus on the daily news, which is often dire, and let it obscure the long term news, which is shockingly good.

This is the 21st Century, not the 18th, with different problems and different tools.  What are Enlightenment values and programs for now?

A psychology professor at Harvard, Steven Pinker is the author of: Enlightenment Now (2018); The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011); The Blank Slate (2002); How the Mind Works (1997); and The Language Instinct (1994).

Seminars About Long-term Thinking

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Steven Pinker - Writing In The 21st Century [6.9.14]

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