In "The Blank Slate," Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on
language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral,
emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and
insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a
doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common
humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social
problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics,
violence, parenting, and the arts. Injecting calm and rationality into debates
that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance
of an honest acknowledgment of human nature