The Blank Slate

The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Steven Pinker

Recommended By

Book Synopsis

"The Blank Slate" by Steven Pinker explores the notion of human nature and the ongoing debate surrounding it. Pinker argues against the idea of a blank slate, positing that humans are not born as blank slates with their minds empty and ready to be shaped solely by their environment.

In this thought-provoking book, Pinker challenges the theories of cultural determinism, blank slateism, and social constructivism. He argues that humans have innate predispositions and tendencies shaped by evolutionary processes, genetics, and brain wiring. Pinker delves into an array of topics, including language acquisition, aggression, morality, and gender identity, demonstrating how these behaviors and characteristics have roots in our biological makeup.

Pinker draws upon various disciplines such as neuroscience, genetics, and psychology to provide a comprehensive analysis of the concept of human nature. He also refutes the notion that acknowledging human nature leads to deterministic outcomes or justifies certain societal inequalities.

Through accessible and engaging prose, Pinker presents a compelling case for understanding the importance of human nature and how it influences our behavior and our society. "The Blank Slate" invites readers to reconsider widely-held beliefs about the malleability of human beings, offering a fresh perspective on the complex interplay between biology and culture in shaping the human experience.

Explore More Books

See All
Living With A SEAL
The Complete Stories
Range
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Inner Studio
Medieval Technology and Social Change
That Used To Be Us
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Savage Son
Life 3.0
The Brand Flip
All Over but the Shoutin'
The Great Crash of 1929
Something Deeply Hidden
The Great Rupture
The World
Order Without Design
Travels with Charley
That's What She Said
Powering the Future
The Unsettling of America
White Fragility
Abundance
I Wrote This Book Because I Love You
Outlive
Transmetropolitan
The House of Rothschild
Metaphors We Live By
The Secret of Fatima
The Power Broker
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf
Lean Thinking
Diffusion of Innovations
Zero to One
Longitude
No Future Without Forgiveness
History and Geography of Human Genes
Meaningful Work
Against Empathy
However Long the Night
Free Women, Free Men
Secret Sauce
Thai Stick
This Is Your Brain on Music
The Compleat Strategyst
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Portfolios of the Poor
Dominion
We Learn Nothing
Discovering Your Personality Type
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
The Reasonableness of Christianity
The Works
Bull by the Horns
The Alchemist
Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter
Mind-Body Problem
The Pursuit of Wow!
The Strange Death Of Europe
Call Me Ted
The Middle Kingdoms
The Courage To Be Disliked
The Future Is Faster Than You Think
Million Dollar Weekend
Let Your Life Speak
The God Proof
Walter Benjamin
Product Design for the Web
Pandemic 1918
Watchmen
Finite and Infinite Games
Rick and Morty Book Three
Your Dad Stole My Rake
James Turrell
When The Facts Change
The Prince
The Macintosh Way
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Oh, The Place You’ll Go
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
The Magic of Thinking Big
Successful Investing is a Process
The Elephant in the Brain
How Not To Be Wrong
What Technology Wants
A Conflict of Visions
The Black Book of Communism
The Essays of Schopenhauer
The Great Mental Models
Eating The Big Fish
Fate Is The Hunter
Sapiens
Slaughterhouse-Five
Letters to a Young Poet
Can't Hurt Me
Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil
The Utopia of Rules
The Cold Start Problem
The Grapes of Wrath
The Price of Tomorrow