The better angels of our nature : why violence has declined

Pinker, Steven, 1954- author

Overview

We've all asked, \"What is the world coming to?\" But we seldom ask, \"How bad was the world in the past?\" Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker shows that the past was much worse. Evidence of a bloody history has always been around us: genocides in the Old Testament, gory mutilations in Shakespeare and Grimm, monarchs who beheaded their relatives, and American founders who dueled with their rivals. The murder rate in medieval Europe was more than thirty times what it is today. Slavery, sadistic punishments, and frivolous executions were common features of life for millennia, then were suddenly abolished. How could this have happened, if human nature has not changed? Pinker argues that thanks to the spread of government, literacy, trade, and cosmopolitanism, we increasingly control our impulses, empathize with others, debunk toxic ideologies, and deploy our powers of reason to reduce the temptations of violence. From publisher description.

• Publisher: Viking
• Subject: Violence Psychological aspects. / Violence Social aspects. / Nonviolence Psychological aspects.
• ISBN: 9780670022953, 0670022950, 9780670023158, 0670023159

Item info:

1 item available

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Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
HM 1116 .P56 2011	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE