The great appeal of the doctrine that the mind is a blank slate is the simple mathematical fact that zero equals zero.
Meaning of the quote
The quote means that people like the idea of the mind being empty at birth, like a blank slate, because it's easy to understand. This is because if you start with nothing (zero), then anything you add will be the same as that thing (zero equals zero). In other words, the mind is like a blank page that can be filled with anything.
About Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker is a renowned Canadian-American cognitive psychologist and popular science author. He is known for his work in evolutionary psychology, the computational theory of mind, and for writing acclaimed books on language, the mind, and human nature.
More quotes from Steven Pinker
Many artists and scholars have pointed out that ultimately art depends on human nature.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
I don’t consider myself to be that radical a thinker.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
Parents provide their children with genes as well as an environment, so the fact that talkative parents have kids with good language skills could simply mean that and that the same genes that make parents talkative make children articulate.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
Why are empirical questions about how the mind works so weighted down with political and moral and emotional baggage?
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
By exploring the political and moral colorings of discoveries about what makes us tick, we can have a more honest science and a less fearful intellectual milieu.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during the Enlightenment and during the framing of the American Constitution.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
But in most cases even the possibility that the correlations reflect shared genes is taboo.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
Personality and socialization aren’t the same thing.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
So no, it’s not all in the genes, but what isn’t in the genes isn’t in the family environment either. It can’t be explained in terms of the overall personalities or the child-rearing practices of parents.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
People today sometimes get uncomfortable with empirical claims that seem to clash with their political assumptions, often because they haven’t given much thought to the connections.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
The great appeal of the doctrine that the mind is a blank slate is the simple mathematical fact that zero equals zero.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
Why do people believe that there are dangerous implications of the idea that the mind is a product of the brain, that the brain is organized in part by the genome, and that the genome was shaped by natural selection?
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
I think this confusion leads intellectuals and artists themselves to believe that the elite arts and humanities are a kind of higher, exalted form of human endeavor.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
My opinions about human nature are shared by many psychologists, linguists, and biologists, not to mention philosophers and scholars going back centuries.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
Most intellectuals today have a phobia of any explanation of the mind that invokes genetics.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
There has to be innate circuitry that does the learning, that creates the culture, that acquires the culture, and that responds to socialization.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
But the newest research is showing that many properties of the brain are genetically organized, and don’t depend on information coming in from the senses.
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind