The Blank Slate

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker, Viking, 2002. 

In this book Steven Pinker demonstrates an unusual degree of clarity and subtlety of thought.

Philosophy of Mind

Steven Pinker compares three traditional theories of mind to what is known from current research in cognitive psychology. The three theories are:

• The Blank Slate: This theory was introduced by British philosopher John Locke. Locke believed that the child is born a blank slate, with no inborn knowledge. Whatever we know as adults has come from our experience.

• The Noble Savage: This theory was championed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The theory asserts that primitive people were gentle and peaceful and did not need government.

• The Ghost in the Machine: This theory was advocated by Rene Descartes, the philosophical dualist. He believed that human beings were not only material, but also had a mental nature. This preserved belief in free will.

Biophobia

Pinker calls the fear of the biological basis of human nature biophobia. Some reasons why people are reluctant to believe in a biological basis for human nature: (a) Fear of Determinism (if biology determines behavior, then people no longer have free will), (b) Fear of Moral Imperfectability (since people are naturally warlike and selfish, and since men are sexually promiscuous by nature, then there is no hope for making people more civilized), (c) Fear of Racial and Gender Inequality (if individuals have biologically unequal brains, then maybe races and genders have biologically unequal brains).