Steven Pinker Knihy

Ak vás zaujala Roslingova publikácia Moc faktov, Steven Pinker ho vo svojich záveroch len podporí a doplní. Jeho kniha je plná vášnivého odporu voči pesimizmu a nesúhlasu so zaužívaným pocitom, že moderný svet je odsúdený na zánik. Pinker dôkladne preštudoval vývoj v minulých storočiach a dospel k jednoznačnému záveru, že život sa neustále zlepšuje. Dnes žijeme dlhšie, zdravšie, bezpečnejšie, šťastnejšie, blahobytnejšie a v mieri. Táto kniha je určená pre ľudí, ktorí majú radi argumenty a dáta. So Stevenom Pinkerom by ste sa fakt nechceli pohádať! Ak si myslíte, že sa svet rúti do pekla, táto kniha vás rozhodne vyvedie z omylu. Zistíte, že na tom vôbec nie sme tak zle, ako si myslíme a ako to často prezentujú senzáciechtivé médiá. Ak sa však k moci dostanú populisti a vydržia tam dosť dlho, všetko, čo sme zatiaľ ako ľudstvo dosiahli, môže byť ohrozené. Veda, rozum, humanizmus a pokrok sú základom ľudského blahobytu a treba za ne stoj čo stoj bojovať.

Autor dáva odpovede na otázky: Ako funguje jazyk? Ako si deti osvojujú materčinu? Ako vznikajú nové slová? V ktorej časti mozgu je jazyk doma? Prečo majú jazyky také množstvo výnimiek a nepravidelností? ...a na mnohé ďalšie.

Prečo je ľudstvo po celé stáročia napriek ohromnému technickému a inteligenčnému pokroku také náchylné veriť falošným poplašným správam, nezmyselným konšpiráciám a dokonca aj samozvaným liečiteľom – šarlatánom? Racionálne premýšľanie je ako šípka hodená správnym smerom a Pinkerov triezvy, humorný pohľad pomôže objasniť a posilniť naše vedomie – praktické myslenie.

In "The Language Instinct," Steven Pinker, well-known for his revolutionary theory of how children acquire language, lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, how it evolved. With wit, education, and deft use of everyday examples of humor and wordplay, Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution like web spinning in spiders or sonar in bats.

Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data. In seventy-five graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing. Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature -- tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking -- which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation. Pinker makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress.

A controversial history of violence argues that today's world is the most peaceful time in human existence, drawing on psychological insights into intrinsic values that are causing people to condemn violence as an acceptable measure.

A brilliant inquiry into the origins of human nature from the author of Rationality, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Enlightenment Now. "Sweeping, erudite, sharply argued, and fun to read..also highly persuasive." --Time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Updated with a new afterword 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 based on science and common sense.

In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. He shows how many intellectuals have denied the existence of human nature by embracing three linked dogmas: the Blank Slate (the mind has no innate traits), the Noble Savage (people are born good and corrupted by society), and the Ghost in the Machine (each of us has a soul that makes choices free from biology). Each dogma carries a moral burden, so their defenders have engaged in desperate tactics to discredit the scientists who are now challenging them. Pinker injects calm and rationality into these debates by showing that equality, progress, responsibility, and purpose have nothing to fear from discoveries about a rich human nature. He disarms even the most menacing threats with clear thinking, common sense, and pertinent facts from science and history. Despite its popularity among intellectuals during much of the twentieth century, he argues, the doctrine of the Blank Slate may have done more harm than good. It denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces hardheaded analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of government, violence, parenting, and the arts. Pinker shows that an acknowledgement of human nature that is grounded in science and common sense, far from being dangerous, can complement insights about the human condition made by millennia of artists and philosophers. All this is done in the style that earned his previous books many prizes and worldwide acclaim: wit, lucidity, and insight into matters great and small.

What is the secret of good prose? Does it matter in an age of digital media? In this witty, mind-expanding book about the art and science of writing well, Steven Pinker shows that good style isn't just about rules - it's about empathy, coherence and adding beauty to the world. 'Witty, direct and idiosyncratic . . . often laugh-out-loud funny . . . refreshingly uncensorious . . . It helps enormously that he is such a beautiful stylist himself.' Paula Byrne, The Times 'Wonderful . . . No true lover of this chaotic, unregulated, magnificently vital language could fail to thrill.' Christopher Hart, Sunday Times 'Brainy, funny . . . a comedy of linguistic bad manners.' Peter Conrad, Guardian 'Outstanding . . . the one book I can unreservedly recommend as a guide on how to write well . . . unique as well as brilliant.' Oliver Kamm, The Times

A prominent cognitive scientist and author of The Language Instinct explains how the brain evolved to store and use information, allowing our ancestors to control their environment, and why we think and act as we do. 50,000 first printing.