Enlightenment now : the case for reason, science, humanism and progress

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The work Enlightenment now : the case for reason, science, humanism and progress represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Enlightenment now : the case for reason, science, humanism and progress

Title remainder

the case for reason, science, humanism and progress

Statement of responsibility

Steven Pinker

Creator

• Pinker, Steven, 1954-

Subject

• Social change
• Social evolution -- Philosophy
• Sociology

Language

eng

Summary

If you follow the headlines, the world in the 21st century appears to be sinking into chaos, hatred, and irrationality. Yet Steven Pinker shows that this is an illusion - a symptom of historical amnesia and statistical fallacies. If you follow the trendlines rather than the headlines, you discover that our lives have become longer, healthier, safer, happier, more peaceful, more stimulating and more prosperous - not just in the West, but worldwide. Such progress is no accident: it's the gift of a coherent and inspiring value system that many of us embrace without even realizing it. These are the values of the Enlightenment: of reason, science, humanism and progress. The challenges we face today are formidable, including inequality, climate change, Artificial Intelligence and nuclear weapons. But the way to deal with them is not to sink into despair or try to lurch back to a mythical idyllic past; it's to treat them as problems we can solve, as we have solved other problems in the past. In making the case for an Enlightenment newly recharged for the 21st century, Pinker shows how we can use our faculties of reason and sympathy to solve the problems that inevitably come with being products of evolution in an indifferent universe. We will never have a perfect world, but - defying the chorus of fatalism and reaction - we can continue to make it a better one. --

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography