'The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial Of

Human Nature' by Stephen Pinker

Pinker argues that human nature exists

Sunday, October 06, 2002

By Fred Bortz

In two intriguing earlier books, "The Language Instinct" and "How the Mind

Works," Steven Pinker examined the capabilities made possible by the brain.

In his newest book, he expands his terrain in

two directions:

*The brain as an organ -- its evolution and

structure, its electrical and biochemical

properties, and its function within a living

organism.

*The entity known as human nature that

emerges from the brain's activity.

The second of these is controversial and always has been.

How much of the brain and a person's nature are determined by genes and

how much by environment? Can a person's nature or, more generally, human

nature be changed?

Is there even such a thing as human nature, or does every newborn human's

head house an initially unprogrammed, infinitely malleable living computer?

Pinker's answer to that question is in his title and subtitle. In light of current

science, he argues, the concept of a blank slate is an untenable hypothesis.

More important, it has become dangerous, leading to misguided, often

counterproductive, social and political policies.

From the beginning, Pinker's usual audience is put on notice: This is not strictly

a science book but one with clear political and social viewpoints. Since they

know him to be an engaging author, they are willing to grapple with him in that

new arena, especially when they have scientific threads to follow.

But for most readers, that willingness quickly fades. In the first of five major

sections, Pinker discusses not only the blank slate but also its close

philosophical relatives, the "noble savage" and the "ghost in the machine."

Is it really worth spending so much time on old doctrines that modern science

has long since laid to rest? Our brain is the product of evolution, and that

means our human propensities have had survival value.

The reason for those chapters, Pinker would argue, is that those doctrines,

though discredited by science, continue to play important roles in current

political thinking, especially on the extremes, and have led us to risky social

engineering and policy.

For the rest of the first three sections, making up nearly half the book, science

takes a back seat to a blow-by-blow description of unseemly academic

squabbling.

Readers are transported back to the late 1960s and 1970s, when political

agendas, primarily on the left but also on the right would -- for some

academics -- trump both scientific discovery and common sense.

Even worse, though not surprising given "human nature," the arguments turn

heated and personal. Accusations and name-calling, spoken in cultured tones

by people with sophisticated vocabularies, take political mud-slinging to a

new level of repugnance.

It's enough to make even a politically liberal reader agree with George

Wallace's description of academics as "pointy-headed intellectuals."

It's enough to make many readers dismiss the book just as the good part is

about to get started.

And the good part is very good indeed. After slogging through the sewers of

academe, Pinker, whose previous work is so lively and thought-provoking,

emerges with fascinating common-sense humanity.

He presents, without the usual heavy political overtones of the genre, his own

manifesto on human nature, leaving readers the opportunity to challenge and

debate his cogent arguments.

Those who endured the first half of the book, squirming in their chairs

wondering when Pinker would get to the point, are now rewarded with

discussions that make the book difficult to leave behind.

Pinker's thoughts on hot-button issues, especially, can lead to lively and

productive debates about politics, violence, gender, children, and the arts --

assuming, of course, the conversations capitalize on the best of "that

infuriating, endearing, mysterious, predictable, and eternally fascinating thing

we call human nature."

Fred Bortz, a physicist and children's author, is the winner of the 2002

American Institute of Physics Children's Science Writing Award.

Steven Pinker will speak tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in the Carnegie Music

Hall, Oakland, as part of the Drue Heinz Lectures. Tickets:

412-622-8866.