The Blank Slate

From EvoWiki

The Blank Slate is a book written by the cognitive scientist Steven Pinker. The book's purpose is to counter what Pinker describes as "the modern denial of human nature." This denial, he claims, is driven by a "blank slate" paradigm in which it is taken as a fundamental assumption (usually implicitly) that no aspects of human behavior could have their origins in biology.

Pinker argues against this notion while making sure to assuage the fears of those who believe that acknowledging that some behavioral variation is biological is tantamount to genetic determinism, and that this will lead to a repeat of one of the harmful ideologies (Naziism, Social Darwinism) that took hold in the 20th century. Instead, Pinker attempts to show that the Blank Slate and these more widely disparaged ideologies have one important aspect in common. They make their morality contingent upon as yet undetermined truths. When a particular conclusion is inexorably linked in the minds of some to an ideology that is widely and justifiably considered evil, they may fear knowing the truth or falsity of that conviction. Pinker makes a convincing case, therefore, that those who wish to understand the truth about human behavior must be careful not to make their fundamental moral principles contingent on the truth of things we do not yet know.