The Blank Slate

Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker argues against blank slate models in the social sciences, holding that evolved psychological traits significantly shape human behaviour. Modern science, he contends, has undercut three linked dogmas: the blank slate, the notion that the mind has no innate traits; the noble savage, which holds that society corrupts people born good; and the ghost in the machine, a soul choosing independently of biology. Much of the book takes on fears of inequality, imperfectibility, determinism and nihilism, which Pinker calls non sequiturs. He also lists harms he links to blank slate thinking, from totalitarian social engineering to excessive blame of parents. Published in 2002, it reached the final round of the Pulitzer Prize.

Mark Manson, on his list of the best science books, praised it as a forceful challenge to the urge to ignore or deny the part genetics plays in human behavior and society.