The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
Themes: Individual differences, inequality
This book looks at the theory of the “blank slate” which says that humans are tabula rasa — blank slates on which anything can be written by shaping their experiences. Pinker discusses two close relatives of the Blank Slate: the Noble Savage (the idea of a pristinely pure savage human being who is corrupted by civilization) and the Ghost in the Machine (the idea that at some mysterious point, life enters into a creature — the idea of the soul). Pinker describes why he considers that the Blank Slate theory is both wrong and harmful.
Here is a Q&A between Steven Pinker and Steve Sailer, who, according to Pinker, has influenced some of Pinker’s thinking on these issues.
