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*020  $a0-670-03151-8 (inb.)
*020  $a0-14-200334-4 (hft.)
*020  $a0-140-27605-X (hft.) (Penguin Books)
*020  $a9780140276053
*020  $a9780142003343 (hft.)
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*040  $aLx$dHdf
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*084  $aDoga$2kssb/7
*1001 $aPinker, Steven
*24504$aThe blank slate :$bthe modern denial of human nature /$cSteven Pinker
*260  $aLondon :$bPenguin ,$c2003
*300  $axvi, 509 s. :$bill.
*599  $aDawson
*650 0$aCharacters and characteristics.
*650 0$aDevelopmental psychology.
*650 0$aNature and nurture.
*650 0$aCharacter.
*650 7$aArv och miljö$2sao$0143460
*650 2$aPersonality development
*650 2$aHeredity
*650 2$aNeuropsychology
*650 0$aNature and nurture
*841  $ax  a$b1302044u    8   1001uu   0901128$e4
*852  $hDo
^

Our conceptions of human nature affect everything aspect of our lives, from child-rearing to politics to morality to the arts. Yet many fear that scientific discoveries about innate patterns of thinking and feeling may be used to justify inequality, to subvert social change, and to dissolve personal responsibility.

In The Blank Slate , Steven Pinker explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. He shows how many intellectuals have denied the existence of human nature and instead have embraced three dogmas: The Blank Slate (the mind has no innate traits), The Noble Savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and The Ghost in the Machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology). Each dogma carries a moral burden, so their defenders have engaged in desperate tactics to discredit the scientists who are now challenging them.

Pinker provides calm in the stormy debate by disentangling the political and moral issues from the scientific ones. He shows that equality, compassion, responsibility, and purpose have nothing to fear from discoveries about an innately organized psyche. Pinker shows that the new sciences of mind, brain, genes, and evolution, far from being dangerous, are complementing observations about the human condition made by millennia of artists and philosophers. All this is done in the style that earned his previous books many prizes and worldwide acclaim: irreverent wit, lucid exposition, and startling insight on matters great and small.

• Prefacep. vii
• The Holy Trinityp. 121
• Human Nature with a Human Facep. 137
• The Fear of Inequalityp. 141
• The Fear of Imperfectibilityp. 159
• The Fear of Determinismp. 174
• The Fear of Nihilismp. 186
• Know Thyselfp. 195
• In Touch with Realityp. 197
• Out of Our Depthsp. 219
• The Many Roots of Our Sufferingp. 241
• The Blank Slate, the Noble Savage, and the Ghost in the Machinep. 1
• The Sanctimonious Animalp. 269
• Hot Buttonsp. 281
• Politicsp. 283
• Violencep. 306
• Genderp. 337
• Childrenp. 372
• The Artsp. 400
• The Voice of the Speciesp. 421
• Donald E. Brown's List of Human Universalsp. 435
• Notesp. 441
• The Official Theoryp. 5
• Referencesp. 461
• Indexp. 491
• Silly Puttyp. 14
• The Last Wall to Fallp. 30
• Culture Vulturesp. 59
• The Slate's Last Standp. 73
• Fear and Loathingp. 103
• Political Scientistsp. 105